Teaching, Reflecting, New Beginnings

It has been a crazy (almost) two years since I created this website.  I finished up my student teaching, which was such a wonderful experience.  Right before the start of the following school year, I landed a 1st grade teaching job at an amazing school in the West Linn/Wilsonville School District.

I learned so much, and was challenged every day.  Teaching in a low income and culturally diverse school allowed me to continually assess my practice and how I was providing an equitable and highly rigorous experience to all of my students.  I worked closely with SPED teachers and integrated a lot of new ideas that I utilize today.

When my temporary contract ended I was afforded the opportunity to join the Portland Public School District (where I went to school, and student taught).  I am now teaching 4th grade, which has always been a dream of mine.  I have a fantastic group of 4th graders who challenge me every day.

Reflecting back on the past years as I have embarked on this journey, I found that I desired to continue to catalogue the different practices and ideas I was trying out in my own classroom.  I wanted to open my practice, engage in that self reflection, and be held accountable to my students, colleagues, and myself through this medium.  So my commitment is to regularly update, research and make time to exercise this aspect of teaching.

I will be launching a donorschoose project for my classroom to crowdfund some chromebooks for my students, and I will update on that process as I go through it.  I will also be posting some of the fantastic resources and ideas that I have been working with since coming to my new school.  High expectations are not only for students, and I hope to continue to strive for them every day.

Summer Math Practice

With summer quickly approaching, it has become pertinent to find small and easy ways for our students to practice their academic skills during their months out of the classroom.  A professor of mine gave me a booklet that she used to send home to families at the end of the year.  Inside are a collection of math games and parent questioning strategies to try and push students (unbeknownst to them) to use their deeper mathematical understandings.  Below is a copy of the booklet.  It is going to be one part of a summer package that I make up for each student.  I will post the other parts of the bundle as they are completed.

Visual Aides

I have found that the use of visual aides in instruction has benefited all students.  Derived from SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol), this practice is meant to provide scaffolding to students and  help them focus on the process of learning.  Having cards that represent materials and places in the room, I can provide the visual cues along with my written and verbal.  This practice helps many types of students, from emerging bilinguals to students of various learning styles, by lowering the stress and difficulty of understanding procedures .

Some of my visual input cards.

Every morning I write on the board what is expected of them that morning.  I try to always pair the writing with a picture referring to their task.  I have found this effective with struggling readers, since blocks of text can sometimes act as a deterrent for them.  This way the picture cues them into the subject of the sentence and helps them decode the rest.

Reading Response Three

For the third reading response  I wanted to provide the opportunity for a different output style.  Every student has an individual learning style, and I wanted to use reading response three to utilize the various talents of my students while still pushing them toward a deeper complexity in their reading comprehension.

I wanted students to deconstruct a scene (or event) that they read during the day and interpret it visually.  The translation of text to visual requires a deep level of comprehension, forcing the reader to synthesize multiple levels of information and detail.  From literal to inferential information, students must construct a visual of what they read (and draw their understanding).  This reading response is a difficult challenge that is presented under the novel guise of a drawing exercise.

I was impressed by the different interpretations of what students read (and the assignment itself .  The following images are examples of student created responses:

This student decided to use the reading response as an opportunity to create diagrams for facts that they learned during their reading of non-fiction:

This next student saw a very literal connection between reading response one and reading response three.  They presented their data visually and in a web, categorizing the information inherent within the question:

These final examples are of students who i.lustrated a scene and labeled who and what was happening. It was heartening to see each student interpret the assignment in their own way, making it work for their own learning style.

Reading Response Two

Teaching often requires one to think on their feet (it is hard to prepare for all possibilities).  When I was presenting reading response one to the class, I was approached by one of my students.  This student loves the natural sciences and reading non-fiction, and was having a hard time understanding how to complete the first reading response using non-fiction.  I decided to create a second reading response for not fiction literature that involved students recording facts they glean from a text.  It was simple and straightforward, yet utilizes many note-taking and information gathering skills that we had been learning in class.

(Note: This reading response can be used for more than just non-fiction.  You could prompt students to write three new things they learned over the course of their reading time.  This would force students to categorize and analyze closely what they had read that day.)

Common Core State Standards (this one has many potential standards it can align with):

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.10 By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Reading Response One

My first reading response was derived from the Common Core State Standard: 
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, andhow to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

I decided that a good place to start the reading responses would be to have them deconstruct a moment (an event) and ask these questions of what they have read.  It was my belief that this structured practice would then students develop and strengthen these critical thinking tools.  I had students create a graphic organizer (thought-web) to help them structure their thoughts and focus more on the deconstruction of the scene than how to present their information.

Below is the anchor chart I created for students to remember Reading Response #1:

Here are some examples of student reading responses:

Reading Responses

From the first day of school my class did very well at Read-to-Self.  I was fortunate in that they had plentiful amount of reading stamina. 

I decided to pair these sustained reading times with Reading Responses that prompt students to begin critically deconstructing what they are reading.  These responses are meant to pair with critical thinking practices that are required of higher-order literary analysis.

To formulate the responses, I decided to practice backwards planning (backwards design), using the Common Core State Standards to inform what I want students to learn.  Over the next three posts I will be highlighting my three reading responses (they are the ones that have been introduced so far).

Table Specific Supplies & Materials

The use of a supplies and materials have always had their inherent issues.  Individual materials leads to arguments and need of space just as much as the use of communal resources (when they are kept on a supply shelf).  I personally prefer the use of communal supplies, it helps establish a sense of student community and reduces the battles over ownership.  

One major issue with how communal resources are often handled is the built in loss of instructional time during transitions.  No matter how practiced transitions and procedures are, there is just that inherent time loss.

What I like about the table specific materials is that the necessary materials are easily at hand (the one pictured has markers, scissors, rulers, pencils, lined paper, and hand sanitizer) .  While having the materials close has the potential for fiddling and misbehaving, I believe the benefit of easy access is worth the investment.  I saw these used in a 3rd grade class, and there was no observable misuse while I was in the classroom.

Projector Setup

How to set up one's project often poses a large logistical problem.  Between the quality of the tech-cart to the amount of space (you have to fit a document-camera, a projector, and have space for your documents), typical setups are less than efficient.

When in my friend's classroom, I was able to see a clever solution to the tech-cart/projector problem.  He had a table (my favorite style of classroom table, the six-top) positioned perpendicular to the classroom screen.  He had commandeered roughly a third of the table, about one student deep on each side (allowing for 4-5 more students, depending on if you place someone at the end).  He then had a instructional command center that allowed for ease of student access, reduced obstruction of student visibility, and an increase in space during teaching (and space is a valuable commodity).

I was so impressed by this layout that I will hopefully be rolling it out in my own classroom and will have pictures to document its completion.  

Math Partners

Having pre-made math partners (either homo- or hetero-geneous grouping, based upon your pedagogical beliefs) enables teachers to quickly divide into partner work, limiting the amount of time wasted during transitions.  

Special Spots

This classroom visual creates a quick go to for distributing students throughout the classroom.  Each student has a clothespin, and the pins correspond to a different spot in the room.  This enables teachers to quickly disperse students, allowing for a change of pace while minimizing the chaos of complete choice.

The Writing Process

This classroom visual allows for students to self assess and keep track of their own writing.  This leads to a form of ownership of the process that facilitates student work.  I also love the ability to the teacher to quickly assess (formative) where the class is at any given Writer's Workshop

Learning From My Peers

Recently I had the opportunity to observe the classroom of one of my peers and watch him teach.  During my time in the classroom I was able to document many of the amazing instructional practices and will be highlighting them over the next few posts.

Teaching as a profession is amazing because of its potential for collaboration and the sharing of practices.  I feel fortunate to have been able to observe in a large range of classrooms and see the varied and amazing styles that constitute the educational landscape.

The next few posts will focus upon things that my peer is doing that I hope to incorporate into my own classroom.

Text to Film (Fantastic Mr. Fox)

Below is my proposal for a tie in between the text of Fantastic Mr. Fox and the film adaptation.  I believe there is a major benefit of using the film (which is PG) as a teaching tool.  We live in a modern digital era, and film is steadily rising as an art form.  I believe that this lesson would start to give my students the tools needed to begin looking critically at film as a medium for storytelling.  While the first lesson below is the text to screen, it is actually the final lesson in a sequence.  The overview of this mini unit revolves primarily around read aloud and accompanying mini-lessons to build my second graders’ understanding of literature and character/story analysis.  After this lesson plan is are a few of the activities I intent to use in conjunction with reading Fantastic Mr. Fox aloud to my class (as well as their correlations to the CCSS)




Note: The lesson ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox: Text to Film - Compare and Contrast’ was adapted from the FANTASTIC MR FOX CURRICULUM PACKAGE, developed by Lindsay Flute HBA, ED. and Bryan Goldmintz HBA, ED.
 and created exclusively for AlliedIM - @ 2009 all rights reserved The Directorʼs Cut

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Text to Film; Compare and Contrast

Grade Level:         Second Grade
Children’s Book: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Author(s):          Roald Dahl
Film:                  Fantastic Mr. Fox
Director:                 Wes Anderson (20th Century Fox)

Objective: 

     The intent of this lesson is to explore the topics of adapting a text to the medium of film, the differences between various versions of a story, and discerning the artistic implications of those differences.  The major difference being focused on is why an event or character is present in one version, but not the other.  This often comes in the form of creating a character or backstory for the film adaptation.

Objective written in age-appropriate language

     Today we are going to learn how to compare and contrast books and their film adaptations using our read aloud Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Related CCSS Standard(s)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9     Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

Materials

• Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox
• A copy of Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox)
• Post-It notes
• Chart Paper
• Writing tools for each student (pens, pencils, paper)
• Read journals and completed “Elements of Story” graphic organizer  

Lesson Outline 

• Write the objective on the board.

• Use our transition signal to get student attention and direct them to come quietly to the carpet.

• After all students are on the carpet (in their own square), introduce the lesson by reading/explaining the lesson objective.  

• Ask a student to repeat to the class what we will be doing in this lesson.  This repetition can help students in their remembering and processing, as well as allows for the information to be presented in the voice and language of a peer.

• Write in large print the word “Film Adaptation” 

• Direct students to Think-Pair-Share what they think this term means.  Be sure to remind students to pay close attention to what their partner shares, because if called upon, they will be asked to share their partner’s thinking.

• Call upon a few students to share, writing up the definition below the word.  Try and either elicit the definition.  [It may be beneficial to use words like: adapt, adjustment, alteration, transform, etc. to probe their responses.]

• Think-Pair-Share: Examples of film adaptations
Have them share.  Possible examples are: Harry Potter, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Where the Wild Things Are, Coralline, The Cat in the Hat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Twilight, etc.

• Hang up pre-made chart (or ven-diagram).  It should have three columns:        In the Book/In Both/In the Film.

• Explain that after the movie they will be working together to fill out this chart. 

• Ask students to grab their Reading Notebooks to use during the movie so that they can take notes on any differences from the book.

• Release students to grab their notebook and find a comfortable spot on the carpet or at their desk to watch the movie.

• After students are quietly in place, start the movie

• Note: Since this movie is long, it may need to be watched in segments.  If the film is broken up, be sure to spend a few minutes having students Pair-Share their thoughts and observations and write them in their Reading Notebook (this is to make sure that they can still come to the main activity of the lesson with details fresh in their minds)

• After the film, bring students back to the carpet.

• Allow them some time to talk with their neighbors about the movie.  If there is a need for more structure, have them Pair-Share their immediate impression of the film.

• Pair-Share and discuss: “Why do they think film adaptations are created or made?” Some possible responses could be:
- Because the book was very popular, and there would be a lot of people who would go and see the movie. 
- Because some people would rather go see a movie, than read a book.
- Because the story is loved or favored by the director, and it was a dream of his/hers to turn it into a movie.

• Bring student attention back to the chart.

• Ask students to open up their reading journal to any notes taken during read aloud or the film.

• Inform students that they will be working in their “Elements of Story” pairs [put the list up on the board to remind students]

• Direct students to the post-it notes.  

• Ask student to remember any detail, event, or character from the STORY Fantastic Mr. Fox (push the focus to the story and not just the book or movie.  This allows for a more broad view the story, and the specifics between the two mediums will come through.  If the scope is too wide for a student, then direct them to focus on details from the text or film).

• After enough time for students to work and complete at least one post-it note (around 15 minutes), [Clap*Clap*Teach] and transition students to the carpet.

• Have pair groups come up and read/share their post-it notes

• Begin a Pair-Share discussion comparing and contrasting the two mediums using the probing questions and the chart.  These questions would make good writing prompts to be used after the discussion.  Because they will be discussed, it will allow for deeper writing due to students having the time to process through peer to peer discussion [be sure to write up points that reoccur during discussion for reference later]:
- Is the film similar to the book? If the film different from the book?
- Did the director (Wes Anderson) stay true to Roald Dahl`s novel Fantastic Mr. Fox?
- Did the director leave out any important information from the book, in the movie?
- Did the director add anything to the movie that wasn`t in the book?
- Why do you think the director added/removed some details, events or characters when making the movie?
- Do you think the director of Fantastic Mr. Fox should of changed Roald Dahl`s story? Do you think this is right?

• Based upon the quality of discussion (i.e. whichever one or two questions elicited the most in depth discussion and exploration of content] choose the prompts to be written on later in the class.  Allow for some processing time between the discussion and writing.  This could be later in the day, or even the following day.  When having students write, be sure to put up the compare and contrast chart and any notes taken during the discussion.

Provisions for students

For students who are ELL or have reading/writing difficulty:  

• Pair students with the consideration of peer-to-peer teaching and support
• Provide sentence frames, visuals, and graphic organizers to assist in writing
• The pair-share, think time and class discussions allow for reiteration of content and extra time for processing.
• Allow for opportunities to draw as an alternative form for showing comprehension of content.

For a few students who have issues either staying on task or getting started:
• Pair-shares offer a sense of peer responsibility and opportunity for active participation of all students.
• This lesson is meant to be engaging and fun while presenting important content, which stimulates and promotes active participation of students.
• Offer students small choices (e.g. where in the room to work) because “having opportunities to make choices in academic tasks can provide the environmental predictability needed to minimize inappropriate behaviors" 

Classroom Annotated Bibliography

This project is geared toward providing students with easy access to books, offering a simple way to quickly find a book that is 'just right' (and that engages student interests).

With the prevalence of ebooks, google (books) and other online resources, one should be able to get many chapter books digitally and be able to compile excerpts or first chapters from a lot of different leveled non picture books. This allows for students to get a feel before having to track the book down.

These excerpts can be simply be printed on standard paper and comb-bound.  Compiling these summaries and excerpts will act as a grade-level annotated bibliography.

Since you would have the digital file, this is a resource that one can easily print out and share with families throughout the year. It would make a great addition to an end of the year packet for each student.

Learning through Mistakes

One of the foundational steps in creating a community of respect is fostering the process of learning.  In order to place the necessary value on the learning process  (thereby valuing mistakes as an inevitable step).  Mistakes are a starting point.  

Knowing that my students were fond of Adventure Time as well, I decided to use Adobe Photoshop to craft a poster for my classroom that emphasizes the idea of learning through mistakes.

If you would like a file of this poster you can send me an email.  I will send you a printable file that is split up so that you can print it on a standard color printer.  

Whole Body Listening

During a recent meeting with fellow educators, I was made aware of a practice called 'Whole Body Listening.'  There was a book and accompaning poster that taught the merits of whole body listening and the using of one's:

• Brain: Thinking about what is being said
• Ears: Both ears ready to hear
• Eyes: Looking at the person talking
• Mouth: Quiet - no talking, humming or making sounds
• Body: Faces the speaker
• Feet: Quiet on the floor
• Hands: Quiet in lap, pockets or by side
• Hear: Caring about what the other person is saying

I was intrigued and became motivated to integrate this practice into the classroom.  I found myself less pleased with the accompanying materials used to teach and reinforce this practice.  As referred to in an earlier post, I set out to use Adobe Photoshop to create a classroom poster that supported the practice while still being interesting.  I have found that students love having their interests acknowledged and validated through teacher understanding.  The bond between shared likes is a strong one and can often help in establishing teacher-student relationships.  I am personally fond of a popular cartoon show called Adventure Time.  Its clever word play, mystical undertones, fantastic world building, and its emotional engagement resonate with children and adults alike.

If you would like a file of this poster just email me your request.  I will send you a printable file that is split up so that you can print it on a standard color printer.  

Adobe Photoshop for Classroom Posters

Posters (and anchor charts) in the classroom can offer a students an easy visual reference and tool.  What I have found is that pre-made posters have their own inherent problems.  They are either too expensive, not relevant enough to instructional needs, or are just plain cookie cutter.  Thankfully, through the use of Adobe's Photoshop, teachers can make posters that are relevant and engaging to student interests (engaging student interest is one of the foundations of effective teaching and best practices).  Fully customizable posters, with vocabulary that is paired with the classroom (as opposed to an educational poster company stock photos and vocabulary).  The next few posts will include downloadable examples of engaging (and student relevant) poster's.  

With a plethora of instructional videos online, Photoshop's learning curve can easily be overcome.  

Student Created eBooks

This post is, in a way, the direct result of my last two posts: Adobe InDesign for Classroom Publishing and eReaders in the Classroom.
  
When researching InDesign, I learned that it is possible to use the program to create eBooks.  Students could create eBooks (or more likely the teacher using student work to create eBooks) resulting in many compelling, and novel, products:

• You could create individual student eBooks that could live in the classroom eReaders.  
• At the end of the year you could create a classroom collection in eBook format, much like a collection of essays or short stories (this could also be done as a physical book).  You could even write a forward/introduction as the editor.  
• In eBook format it would be easy to provide copies of student work to parents.  Many adults have some sort of reader (most computers can read the file as well).  

Over the years one would have a large archive of student work.  This work could serve to simply be reading fare for future students, or used to model student work during future lessons.  I have found that students respond well to seeing actual examples of end products.  Knowing from experience, seeing an example is more effective for some students than simply being given instructions.  It shifts the product from the abstract to the more readily realized.

[Note: One should not solely rely on digital production and distribution of student work.  Making the assumption that all families are able to utilize digital formats is not an equitable practice.  It is always important to make your instruction inclusive to all people.  Know your families and always take their needs into account.]

Adobe InDesign for Classroom Publishing

 While working with students to publish a piece of writing for the year (type it up, add some illustrations, laminate cover and comb bind it) I had an idea.  I recently got the Adobe Creative Suite and had been trying to figure out ways to utilize these tools in the classroom.  I have a friend in my graduate program (who is the most phenomenal teacher) that recommend using Adobe InDesign to make printed material.  After teaching myself the basics, I was amazed at how many different ways you could use it in the classroom.  From pamphlet design to developing a template for a classroom newspaper, there really are limitless ways to integrate.


My idea was more specific though.  I saw myself creating a publishing company for my classroom (with the requisite clever name and logo).  Using InDesign, I could take the time to professionally layout and design student writing to be book-level quality.  The tools are there, and the time required decreases as one learns the program.  There are even a myriad of simple binding techniques one could use so the the actual book is on par with the layout.  I believe that upgrading the quality (publishing wise) of student work showcases that the work students do is valuable and just as worthy to have the time spent to make it look that way.

InDesign in action

I do enjoy lists, so I will shed my verbose prose to sum up my idea:

• Create a classroom publishing company (be sure to design a logo and make a poster or two).  This company is one that stays with the classroom, allowing students to feel that their work is part of a legacy.
• Have students type up their work (the ability to type and publish work digitally is in the Common Core State Standards).  I believe that it is important to publish all sizes and levels of work.  Just because a student is a struggling writer does not mean that their work has any less reason to be published than another students series of chapter books.
• Use InDesign to create a template for book layouts (you could create one standard template to save time, or have a few to choose from).
• After formatting the student work, print it.
• Now it is time to bind the book.  There are many different ways to bind and create books.  A great resource is Paula Beardell Krieg's Book Arts blog: Playful Bookbinding and Paper Works (located at http://bookzoompa.wordpress.com/).  This blog is worth checking out just for the how-tos and picture guides on classroom bookmaking.
• Have some sort of celebration when a book is published, and maybe at the end of the year have a large publishing party/gallery walk to honor all student work.

eReaders in the Classroom

eReaders and their place in the classroom seems to be a topic that is coming to the forefront of the education debate.  At times it seems like there is a dichotomy between the proponents of physical books and eReaders, a rift that cannot be gapped.  

I have a fondness for the physical book, and do not believe it will ever be truly phased out, but I also see great potential in the use of eReaders in the classroom.  The fact that a low end e-reader ($69 Kindle) can weigh less than 6 ounces and hold over 1,000 books is astounding.  With just a few of these in the classroom supplementing your physical library, you can open up so many more options to your students.  

Here is a simple list as to why I believe E-readers should have a place in the classroom:

• Physical books take up space, and with increasing class sizes space is something that is becoming more precious and hard to find.
• E-books can often be authorized on multiple machines, which means that one can easily obtain enough books to use in reading groups.  Often it is hard to have enough books to fill a reading group, forcing teachers to simple work with whats available (instead of what would benefit students the most).
• There are multiple places online that offer free e-books (a post for another day).  
• With the ease of acquiring books, teachers can get books for higher (and lower) readers that they may not have put in their normal classroom library.

These are just some of the benefits of integrating eReaders into the classroom.  Physical books will always have a place in my heart, and classroom, but the benefits of having multiple classroom libraries through eReaders will push me to obtain these for my classroom.

Authentic Assessment Using Technology (Dragon Speak)

Using Dragon Speak as an alternate form of assessment.

"Dragon speech recognition software makes it easier for anyone to use a computer. You talk, and it types. Use your voice to create and edit documents"

Authentic assessment can sometimes prove challenging.  Much like scientific experiments and data gathering for statistics, it is important to isolate and remove any confounding variables.  One such confounding variable I have seen crop up is where the assessment tool is dependent upon a skill that is not being assessed.  This isn't always a problem, but in some cases it can skew the assessment results. 

Setting up an assessment station that has Dragon Speak (either on a computer or ipod touch) would help teachers assess students who have dificulty writing.  If you are assessing for content knowledge (not ability to write), then Dragon Speak enables a teacher to assess the knowledge gained as opposed to writing ability.  The program can email a transcript to the teacher, which in turn can produce a hard copy of that student's assessment.

I could see Dragon Speak (or similar programs) being integrated into the classroom to help various students, not only for assessment.  One could have a student speak their first draft, get a print out, and edit it.  To provide the student with the practice of writing, a teacher could print out the draft and have the student transcribe their words.  This practice will help build the fine motor skills and muscle memory that speaking lacks.

Steven Johnson on Commonplace Books

Sticking with the themes of my initial posts, I will continue redefining the mission of this site through the lens of Steven Johnson (the author I focused upon in my last post).

From the transcript of Johnson's lecture entitled The Glass Box and the Commonplace Book 
"Each rereading of the commonplace book becomes a new kind of revelation. You see the evolutionary paths of all your past hunches: the ones that turned out to be red herrings; the ones that turned out to be too obvious to write; even the ones that turned into entire books. But each encounter holds the promise that some long-forgotten hunch will connect in a new way with some emerging obsession."

To just add on to this trajectory, below is an additional talk by Steven Johnson (again, derived from concepts covered in his book: Where Good Ideas Come From).  This TED talk focuses on his concept of liquid networks.  By isolating the reason why 'coffee houses' were such hotbeds of innovation during the Enlightenment as his launch (fun fact: its not the coffee), this video presents an idea that mirrors social constructivism.

Fostering Innovation In Our Students

Classrooms are like collections of innovators.  Each student brings with them their own unique background and come together to join in on a community of thinkers and collaborators.  

Over the recent years there has been a surge of research and writings on the concept of collaborative groups and innovation.  Whenever I read about them, the possible parallels within education always jumped out at me.  As a teacher, it is my duty to work toward facilitating individual and group growth within the microcosm of the classroom.

Why not model a learning community after an environment geared towards collaborative innovation?

I have recently been reading a lot of nonfiction works that revolve around the topic of innovation, collaboration, and design.  One particularly gripping work by the author Steven Johnson.  A few years ago I took a class titled Biology: Technology of the Future.  The class used Steven Johnson's book Where Good Ideas Come From as its foundational text.  The concepts in the book resonated with me on not only a personal level, but on a professional one.   

Amazon's Book Description:

The printing press, the pencil, the flush toilet, the battery—these are all great ideas. But where do they come from? What kind of environment breeds them? What sparks the flash of brilliance? How do we generate the breakthrough technologies that push forward our lives, our society, our culture? Steven Johnson’s answers are revelatory as he identifies the seven key patterns behind genuine innovation, and traces them across time and disciplines. From Darwin and Freud to the halls of Google and Apple, Johnson investigates the innovation hubs throughout modern time and pulls out applicable approaches and commonalities that seem to appear at moments of originality. Where Good Ideas Come From gives us both an important new understanding of the history of innovation and a set of useful strategies for cultivating our own creative breakthroughs.