Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners Through UDL and the Innovator's Mindset

The answer to creating innovative teaching and learning opportunities lies within you.

Every educator faces constraints—from budget restrictions to predetermined curriculum to “one-size-fits-all” mandatory assessments. The question is, how can you, as a teacher or administrator, ensure that regulations and limitations don’t impede authentic learning?

In Innovate Inside the Box, George Couros and Katie Novak provide informed insight on creating purposeful learning opportunities for all students. By combining the power of the Innovator's Mindset and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), they empower educators to create opportunities that will benefit every learner. Couros and Novak show you how to . . .

• Leverage the Core of Innovative Teaching and Learning with a focus on developing meaningful relationships.
• Develop the 8 Characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset in your students—and yourself.
• Use UDL to proactively design learning experiences that foster voice and choice while addressing barriers that impede learning.
• Create learner-driven, evidence-informed learning experiences that provide all students with options and choices to maximize success.
  

“If you’re looking to bring creativity to student learning amid all the constraints educators face, this is the book for you.”
—Daniel Pink, author of Drive

“No one articulates a more compelling, a more urgent, or a more motivating vision of education—for both teachers and their students—than George Couros. No one articulates how that vision can be reached—for every student and teacher—more daringly, more practically, and more inclusively, than Katie Novak. Having them together in one book not only helps us reimagine the goals and practices of education, it reminds us of why we ever wanted to be teachers at all.”
—David Rose, PhD, CAST's cofounder and chief education officer, emeritus

“An incredible book! Innovate Inside the Box speaks to educators who are the change agents in their sphere of influence.”
—Sarah Thomas, PhD, founder of EduMatch

“George and Katie's combined talents as spectacular storytellers drive this book. You will feel like you are flying through it and then realize how deeply you are learning.”
—Loui Lord Nelson, PhD, author of Design and Deliver, and podcast host of UDL in 15 Minutes

“Innovate Inside the Box builds upon the big ideas and framework in Innovator's Mindset, but goes much deeper.  As a Teacher-Librarian who supports many subject areas, I appreciate the many practical takeaways, ideas, and classroom examples grounded in Universal Design for Learning which can be found throughout, but especially in Part 2. I also really love how the authors’ voices and experiences are complementary and yet very different. Innovate Inside the Box is an absolute must read.” 

Jennifer Casa-Todd, Teacher-Librarian and author of Social LEADia

“Innovate Inside the Box is the missing link between what people think innovation in the classroom is and what it can actually be. As a principal, I watch my teachers struggle with our expectations are for our students, inside a system that we all see the flaws in, but are still yet measured, evaluated, and judged by. Teachers know that they can do better by kids, but they don't necessarily know where to start. The not knowing how to do both, meeting the expectations of our current environment but also challenge and motivate our students is answered within this book. Instead of seeing those as two absolutes, Couros and Novak provide powerful examples of "and". Using the examples and allowing the discussion questions to guide you down the path that Innovators Mindset started...Innovate Inside the Box will be what allows everyone to win, but most especially, our students.”
Amber Teamann, Principal, Wylie ISD

George’s first book, The Innovator’s Mindset. I had never read a professional development book that made me feel like I was having a conversation with the author. I had never read a book that was as interactive and had me researching people and ideas as George shared them. Innovate Inside the Box takes the ideas in The Innovator’s Mindset and expands on them by providing actionable ideas we can take and apply inside our own educational boxes. Katie Novak is an expert in Universal Design for Learning and the strategies she shares to make sure we are empowering all learners is a great compliment to George’s message. Katie and George show us that the path to empowered learners starts with strong, positive relationships but that is the floor, not the ceiling, and the sky is the limit when we consciously plan for the needs of our learners.”
Allyson Apsey, Elementary Principal and author of Through the Lens of Serendipity

“This book is so much more than a tool for educators! It speaks to the essence of truly helping individuals. Whether you’re a student, teacher, specialist, principal, or does work in any capacity with students, it shares the importance of relationships and how this variable benefits all in the learning environment.” 

Vincent Taylor, Author of “If Instruction Isn’t Engaging, I Quit” and Academic Coach at Cedar Hills Elementary

“It's not often you can find a book that pulls at both your intellect and emotion. The stories of triumph and struggle mixed with the push every educator needs to enhance learning in their particular area for all makes Innovate Inside the Box an instant classic in my eyes. It reminds everyone that whatever role you play in working with students, you have a tremendous impact on learning AND lives. We need educators. We need them to feel valued. We need them to keep learning. We need them to understand that it's ok not to be perfect and when they feel empowered to grow, they will. Innovate Inside the Box will help them get there.”
Joe Sanfelippo, PhD, Superintendent, Author, Speaker