Transformative Principal

Design Thinking Process with Susie Wise Transformative Principal 122


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This is part 2 of my interview with Susie Wise. Susie has had multiple incarnations at the d.school – teaching EX-Tools back in the trailer days, launching the K12 Lab in 2007 with the Nueva School Innovation Lab project, and jumpstarting Media Ops and Hootenanny design for the inauguration of Building 550 in 2008–2010. Back again in 2012 she is leading our efforts to support the movement bringing design thinking into K12 teaching and learning. Susie stumbled upon design thinking when she took a course with David Kelley in 2003 and the experience helped her make sense of the universe. Susie is motivated by the simple belief that humans are by nature designers. Recently a design strategist and innovation coach at Intuit, her practice centers on inspiring teams to use empathy to get to innovative outcomes. Susie has a PhD in Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford’s School of Education and is a co-founder of Urban Montessori Charter School in Oakland. She lives there with her husband and daughter (yes, the one in the movie Babies).

  • Design thinking process
  • New way to seek opportunities and problem solve.
  • Traditional Analytic ways of thinking: see a problem, come up with ideas, do a lot of planning
  • Empathize first, to see what they could see. Ask questions, immersion. Understand the space in a human centered way.
  • Define the problem once you have empathy.
  • Once you have framed what you’re going after, ideate.
  • Ideation is about separating idea formation from selection. Yes and vs Yes but.
  • Prototype - make bite-sized change.
  • Test it out in small spaces to see if you are on the right track in a human-centered way.
  • Do it rapidly. How quickly could you prototype and test your ideas?
  • Mine the failures for learning.
  • Questions to ask after empathy experience: Ask Why 5 times.
  • It can be scary to ask Why.
  • It is about people.
  • Somebody pulls out or somebody pulls rank.
  • Let’s run those prototypes.
  • Bias towards action.
  • Practice on hacking things that are not in school. Hack something in life.
  • Breaking it down into the smallest possible size to get quick wins.
  • Take on more complex tasks.
  • How to be a transformative principal? 1. Shadow a student and 2. put yourself in a different position than you have been in.
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    Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL, and Renaissance Learning:

    As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

    We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.


    If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 


    These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.

    We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL


    IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

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    Transformative PrincipalBy Jethro Jones

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