thinking outside of the box a
fascinating theme and maybe one though
that is a little bit misunderstood from
time to time and today that’s what I
would like to explore with you our
perceptions of outside of the boxes our
perceptions of the box and the way we
think about the box now when you look at
these two words thinking and the box
they don’t actually being an English
language teacher you know we talked
about collocations connotations they
don’t actually Connor Tate they don’t go
together because thinking is vast it’s
everywhere it’s like the ocean whereas
the box is the box it is confined it is
static it’s in mobile and it’s not vast
it’s not everywhere that is why we need
the preposition they’re thinking outside
the box we will come back to this of
course and analyze it a bit more but as
Julie dimensions this is highly
associated what with what Guilford the
psychologist Guildford refers to as the
nine dot puzzle it was actually
popularized by him in the 1960s and
again as Julia mentioned the puzzle
involves using or drawing four straight
lines without lifting your pen or pencil
and of course there are more than one
solutions to this one of them being this
one now this has been used a lot in
business in management in leadership
development and in education
when we’re young when we’re children
when we go to kindergarten we can see
this in terms of how our work and what
we do and what we say everything is
appreciated we know in life and from
nature that fish usually swim together
don’t they it’s actually called schools
fish swim in schools they sort of travel
together they swim together but there’s
also times when they swim in different
directions as you can see in this
picture and this is what happens early
on in our childhood when we are young we
don’t sort of swim together we sort of
go in different directions I’d like to
at this stage share with you a very
as you probably noticed I mean we
probably all know this song by heart at
least most most of us the lyrics weren’t
fully correct were they
but you’ve noticed the the joy the
happiness the sense of achievement on
his face and how do you think I II his
father as well felt about this when he
sang this like this of course we were
extremely happy I mean it was being
recorded this is my son when he was very
young john Tarka john ii was very happy
to sing the song and be recorded at the
same time he didn’t ever a problem with
that but at the same time you know he
was free he was living in the moment the
singing the songs and not worrying about
the lyrics and maybe that’s what he
thought the song was that’s what he
thought the words were okay so as
parents asked teachers what do we do
with this we applaud it we appreciate it
every single energy and learning that
goes into that and the performance I
mean a kid at that age some of them
don’t like performing yeah and we
appreciate all the schools have end of
your performances you know we applaud we
are our eyes filled with tears and we’re
so you know joyful and my question is
you know there are no boxes then what
happens between this time of a sense of
freedom sense of achievement sense of
joy sense of meanness and Happiness to a
time when in schools and this does
happen still unfortunately we are even
expected to do SWOT analysis do you know
what’s what analysis is you’ve probably
all heard it’s quite common in business
again management and education
and even my son was asked to do this
some years ago as early as the age of
twelve SWOT strengths weaknesses
opportunities threats and even saying it
makes me so unhappy when we’re asked to
do a SWOT analysis we are being put into
four boxes you have your strengths you
have your weaknesses weaknesses you have
your opportunities and you have your
threats the problem I have with SWOT are
two concepts in there you can probably
guess which one’s weakness out I
probably hardly ever use that term I’m
also involved in teacher training a lot
I’ve worked with teachers for very very
long years and that’s one of the first
things I say to them get the word
weakness out of your dictionary there
are no weaknesses there are only areas
for further development we only have
areas for further development we do not
have weaknesses and the same goes for
threats why should my son or any student
have to think in terms of threats what
are the threats around me why instead I
would propose and I do promote this a
lot with my colleagues and with other
people I work with this sort of approach
where we look at our strengths where we
look at opportunities and where we look
at challenges as you can see there’s no
threats there there’s no weaknesses all
there is is challenges like this event
I’ve given many many presentations but
this is the first of its kind for me
because I’m not used to not looking
my slides and I’m not used to okay yes
there’s always a time limit but I’m not
used to you know this shorter a
presentation it’s a challenge and like
dear Esther I wasn’t able to sleep well
for a couple of nights either so you
know it is a challenge so what do you do
with the challenge you embrace it you
have to go beyond your comfort zone
we’re also happy in our comfort zones
it’s so nice to be there you know don’t
touch me I’m okay but we do have to go
beyond it and that’s why I don’t believe
in the concept of weakness it’s just a
matter of trying to reach towards that
challenge and go beyond in that so that
we can embrace the opportunities because
when we step out of that comfort zone if
this is my comfort zone I step out of it
then I’m going to see all the
opportunities around me and hopefully
grab them at least several of them I’ve
noticed now I’m looking at the slides
good technique Dennis instead of
thinking outside of the box maybe we can
explore a bit more concepts like lateral
thinking and by that’s what is meant you
probably know about bono Edward de Bono
but there’s many others as well is
looking at an issue a problem a case a
situation from many many different
angles lateral thinkers collect lots of
information in order to generate ideas
in order to generate thought patterns
and I think that’s beautiful so you
don’t sort of sit there and think I’m a
lateral thinker
well done no you have to do your
research you have to find out lots of
information you have to read you have to
talk to people you have to gain
experiences and reflect on those
experiences and then generate ideas and
thought patterns from those experiences
so I think that’s really useful as a
term lateral thinkers trying to explore
from different angles and that’s exactly
what we need to do with the box we need
to ask questions we need to ask all
sorts of questions
now the question words you see on there
are just some of the can help us ask
some of the questions only there are
many many more well first of all I would
ask what books
what books which box are we talking
about whose box is this I mean you’re
asking me let’s say we’re in an
educational meeting and the director
says or the manager says okay guys let’s
think outside the box well who is saying
this why are they saying this what are
they referring to when they say outside
of the box what is the box when is this
happening is that at the beginning of
the year after a major event or a
serious problem that has occurred so
what is this box therefore referring to
how is our approach what is the approach
we’re going to take to explore this box
if the box open or is it closed and
where are we with respect to the box and
that’s why I think when we say thinking
outside the box or let’s think outside
the box but maybe we are not giving
adequate importance to exploring within
and around the box because in order to
think outside the box I would argue that
we have to know the box we have to know
the situation we have to know the
mindset we have to know if it’s a
process the process if it’s related to
an event we need to know about this
event the issue the case whatever it is
without this environment thinking
outside the box or going outside the box
I would argue it’s not going to be
healthy now unfortunately most often in
schools what happens including mine I
mean it’s a great school and this is a
great school but we all do it in
education especially you know ok let’s
try this and we scrap something and
start all over again ah this is not
working ok well what are we gonna do
let’s implement it when next week next
week yeah we can do it come on you know
so we sort of start new things we worry
about effectiveness quite rightly but at
the expense of things that work
sometimes and that’s what I’m saying
inviting everyone to look at more
carefully we do not want to throw away
what works or the good things at the
expense of oh we have to come up with an
entirely new idea so asking these
questions is going to help us explore
the way we think and that has to be done
I think both individually and at a
collective level a collaborative level
well should we ditch the box maybe
completely and say well there is no box
there is no box or should we play with
it I would suggest the latter because
there is a box let’s face it I just told
you about John Tarkin you saw the video
and getting to a stage where he’s asked
to do along with other students a SWOT
analysis
well we know about that yeah we end up
in boxes whether we like it or not teh
oak
although I think the name has changed
now the University exam we have so many
exams therefore we have to fit into some
patterns whether they’re boxes or
whatever shaped triangles circles etc
okay but still instead of ditching the
box completely I think a healthier way
is to explore the box play with the box
and let our creativity flow instead of
stressing ourselves about I’ve got to
think outside the box no why so I’ve got
a gift for you it’s not a box because
box is static
it’s a parcel and the parcel represents
my gift to you represents of course
there is a box inside but it’s not a
static box and this gift is also a gift
to myself but I remind myself all the
time parcel the P is for persistence I
love that word perseverance and
persistence not giving up I don’t mean
you know to the extent that you get
frustrated and you feel really upset no
but not giving up and trying to look at
different angles and opportunities if
necessary talking to others learning
from them reflecting travelling
reflecting on your travels talking to
nature exploring and observing
everything that’s happening around you
in order to achieve your goal but
persevering and not giving up the a of
appreciation I can’t stress this enough
I don’t know if you’ve heard the name
David Cooper Rider 1970s one of the
founders of the approach appreciative
inquiry and this is an approach to
change which believes in the idea that
every individual has strengths and every
individual has a lot of potential just
like organizations or institutions so we
need to appreciate in education as well
everyday what is already working please
and unfortunately my observations around
me tell me that that is often not the
case we forget we sort of say yeah yeah
tamam okay that’s nice but you know we
need to do well hang on a second
No tamam da we have to explore that and
congratulate ourselves for achieving
that so well and not forget it
the our of the parcel is for receptivity
too often we might close ourselves to
the world we have to be open if I’m not
open as a teacher as a manager as a
leader as a business person I’m not
going to learn forget about thinking
outside the box
I’m not going to learn the sea is
co-create everything we do in life is
co-created even when we’re alone you’re
still doing something you’re thinking
maybe you’re looking at a tree you’re
interacting with the nature maybe you’re
reading a book you’re interacting with
the text and of course many social
settings that we are in including
educational settings we co-create and
that’s beautiful for thinking outside
the box the e is maybe one of the most
important ones in parcel in my gift to
you
and to myself effectiveness I would say
it doesn’t really matter if an idea is a
hundred percent original I would say it
does matter however that it is effective
that is what we need to seek
effectiveness in our work now if it’s
additionally original or totally new
Bravo but if not why stress ourselves
it’s working and it’s going well and
that should be our aim and with all of
that hopefully we have the L of the
parcel which is learning so my final
words this is back to John Tarkin when
he was only a couple of years old and
you can see him sitting in a very small
room this was actually a very small room
with a closet in it where we put linen
and towels and this was his space he
would go in there with Sylvester his
soft toy his favorite soft toy at the
time he would sing to himself he would
talk to either himself or Sylvester and
he need to come out happy but he would
want that door closed he was in a box
but he was being productive and he was
happy in there so there will be times
when we will be in the box and we should
explore in the box
let us not always think outside the box
I know that’s our thing but we need to
know what box we are talking about thank
you [Applause]
fascinating theme and maybe one though
that is a little bit misunderstood from
time to time and today that’s what I
would like to explore with you our
perceptions of outside of the boxes our
perceptions of the box and the way we
think about the box now when you look at
these two words thinking and the box
they don’t actually being an English
language teacher you know we talked
about collocations connotations they
don’t actually Connor Tate they don’t go
together because thinking is vast it’s
everywhere it’s like the ocean whereas
the box is the box it is confined it is
static it’s in mobile and it’s not vast
it’s not everywhere that is why we need
the preposition they’re thinking outside
the box we will come back to this of
course and analyze it a bit more but as
Julie dimensions this is highly
associated what with what Guilford the
psychologist Guildford refers to as the
nine dot puzzle it was actually
popularized by him in the 1960s and
again as Julia mentioned the puzzle
involves using or drawing four straight
lines without lifting your pen or pencil
and of course there are more than one
solutions to this one of them being this
one now this has been used a lot in
business in management in leadership
development and in education
when we’re young when we’re children
when we go to kindergarten we can see
this in terms of how our work and what
we do and what we say everything is
appreciated we know in life and from
nature that fish usually swim together
don’t they it’s actually called schools
fish swim in schools they sort of travel
together they swim together but there’s
also times when they swim in different
directions as you can see in this
picture and this is what happens early
on in our childhood when we are young we
don’t sort of swim together we sort of
go in different directions I’d like to
at this stage share with you a very
as you probably noticed I mean we
probably all know this song by heart at
least most most of us the lyrics weren’t
fully correct were they
but you’ve noticed the the joy the
happiness the sense of achievement on
his face and how do you think I II his
father as well felt about this when he
sang this like this of course we were
extremely happy I mean it was being
recorded this is my son when he was very
young john Tarka john ii was very happy
to sing the song and be recorded at the
same time he didn’t ever a problem with
that but at the same time you know he
was free he was living in the moment the
singing the songs and not worrying about
the lyrics and maybe that’s what he
thought the song was that’s what he
thought the words were okay so as
parents asked teachers what do we do
with this we applaud it we appreciate it
every single energy and learning that
goes into that and the performance I
mean a kid at that age some of them
don’t like performing yeah and we
appreciate all the schools have end of
your performances you know we applaud we
are our eyes filled with tears and we’re
so you know joyful and my question is
you know there are no boxes then what
happens between this time of a sense of
freedom sense of achievement sense of
joy sense of meanness and Happiness to a
time when in schools and this does
happen still unfortunately we are even
expected to do SWOT analysis do you know
what’s what analysis is you’ve probably
all heard it’s quite common in business
again management and education
and even my son was asked to do this
some years ago as early as the age of
twelve SWOT strengths weaknesses
opportunities threats and even saying it
makes me so unhappy when we’re asked to
do a SWOT analysis we are being put into
four boxes you have your strengths you
have your weaknesses weaknesses you have
your opportunities and you have your
threats the problem I have with SWOT are
two concepts in there you can probably
guess which one’s weakness out I
probably hardly ever use that term I’m
also involved in teacher training a lot
I’ve worked with teachers for very very
long years and that’s one of the first
things I say to them get the word
weakness out of your dictionary there
are no weaknesses there are only areas
for further development we only have
areas for further development we do not
have weaknesses and the same goes for
threats why should my son or any student
have to think in terms of threats what
are the threats around me why instead I
would propose and I do promote this a
lot with my colleagues and with other
people I work with this sort of approach
where we look at our strengths where we
look at opportunities and where we look
at challenges as you can see there’s no
threats there there’s no weaknesses all
there is is challenges like this event
I’ve given many many presentations but
this is the first of its kind for me
because I’m not used to not looking
my slides and I’m not used to okay yes
there’s always a time limit but I’m not
used to you know this shorter a
presentation it’s a challenge and like
dear Esther I wasn’t able to sleep well
for a couple of nights either so you
know it is a challenge so what do you do
with the challenge you embrace it you
have to go beyond your comfort zone
we’re also happy in our comfort zones
it’s so nice to be there you know don’t
touch me I’m okay but we do have to go
beyond it and that’s why I don’t believe
in the concept of weakness it’s just a
matter of trying to reach towards that
challenge and go beyond in that so that
we can embrace the opportunities because
when we step out of that comfort zone if
this is my comfort zone I step out of it
then I’m going to see all the
opportunities around me and hopefully
grab them at least several of them I’ve
noticed now I’m looking at the slides
good technique Dennis instead of
thinking outside of the box maybe we can
explore a bit more concepts like lateral
thinking and by that’s what is meant you
probably know about bono Edward de Bono
but there’s many others as well is
looking at an issue a problem a case a
situation from many many different
angles lateral thinkers collect lots of
information in order to generate ideas
in order to generate thought patterns
and I think that’s beautiful so you
don’t sort of sit there and think I’m a
lateral thinker
well done no you have to do your
research you have to find out lots of
information you have to read you have to
talk to people you have to gain
experiences and reflect on those
experiences and then generate ideas and
thought patterns from those experiences
so I think that’s really useful as a
term lateral thinkers trying to explore
from different angles and that’s exactly
what we need to do with the box we need
to ask questions we need to ask all
sorts of questions
now the question words you see on there
are just some of the can help us ask
some of the questions only there are
many many more well first of all I would
ask what books
what books which box are we talking
about whose box is this I mean you’re
asking me let’s say we’re in an
educational meeting and the director
says or the manager says okay guys let’s
think outside the box well who is saying
this why are they saying this what are
they referring to when they say outside
of the box what is the box when is this
happening is that at the beginning of
the year after a major event or a
serious problem that has occurred so
what is this box therefore referring to
how is our approach what is the approach
we’re going to take to explore this box
if the box open or is it closed and
where are we with respect to the box and
that’s why I think when we say thinking
outside the box or let’s think outside
the box but maybe we are not giving
adequate importance to exploring within
and around the box because in order to
think outside the box I would argue that
we have to know the box we have to know
the situation we have to know the
mindset we have to know if it’s a
process the process if it’s related to
an event we need to know about this
event the issue the case whatever it is
without this environment thinking
outside the box or going outside the box
I would argue it’s not going to be
healthy now unfortunately most often in
schools what happens including mine I
mean it’s a great school and this is a
great school but we all do it in
education especially you know ok let’s
try this and we scrap something and
start all over again ah this is not
working ok well what are we gonna do
let’s implement it when next week next
week yeah we can do it come on you know
so we sort of start new things we worry
about effectiveness quite rightly but at
the expense of things that work
sometimes and that’s what I’m saying
inviting everyone to look at more
carefully we do not want to throw away
what works or the good things at the
expense of oh we have to come up with an
entirely new idea so asking these
questions is going to help us explore
the way we think and that has to be done
I think both individually and at a
collective level a collaborative level
well should we ditch the box maybe
completely and say well there is no box
there is no box or should we play with
it I would suggest the latter because
there is a box let’s face it I just told
you about John Tarkin you saw the video
and getting to a stage where he’s asked
to do along with other students a SWOT
analysis
well we know about that yeah we end up
in boxes whether we like it or not teh
oak
although I think the name has changed
now the University exam we have so many
exams therefore we have to fit into some
patterns whether they’re boxes or
whatever shaped triangles circles etc
okay but still instead of ditching the
box completely I think a healthier way
is to explore the box play with the box
and let our creativity flow instead of
stressing ourselves about I’ve got to
think outside the box no why so I’ve got
a gift for you it’s not a box because
box is static
it’s a parcel and the parcel represents
my gift to you represents of course
there is a box inside but it’s not a
static box and this gift is also a gift
to myself but I remind myself all the
time parcel the P is for persistence I
love that word perseverance and
persistence not giving up I don’t mean
you know to the extent that you get
frustrated and you feel really upset no
but not giving up and trying to look at
different angles and opportunities if
necessary talking to others learning
from them reflecting travelling
reflecting on your travels talking to
nature exploring and observing
everything that’s happening around you
in order to achieve your goal but
persevering and not giving up the a of
appreciation I can’t stress this enough
I don’t know if you’ve heard the name
David Cooper Rider 1970s one of the
founders of the approach appreciative
inquiry and this is an approach to
change which believes in the idea that
every individual has strengths and every
individual has a lot of potential just
like organizations or institutions so we
need to appreciate in education as well
everyday what is already working please
and unfortunately my observations around
me tell me that that is often not the
case we forget we sort of say yeah yeah
tamam okay that’s nice but you know we
need to do well hang on a second
No tamam da we have to explore that and
congratulate ourselves for achieving
that so well and not forget it
the our of the parcel is for receptivity
too often we might close ourselves to
the world we have to be open if I’m not
open as a teacher as a manager as a
leader as a business person I’m not
going to learn forget about thinking
outside the box
I’m not going to learn the sea is
co-create everything we do in life is
co-created even when we’re alone you’re
still doing something you’re thinking
maybe you’re looking at a tree you’re
interacting with the nature maybe you’re
reading a book you’re interacting with
the text and of course many social
settings that we are in including
educational settings we co-create and
that’s beautiful for thinking outside
the box the e is maybe one of the most
important ones in parcel in my gift to
you
and to myself effectiveness I would say
it doesn’t really matter if an idea is a
hundred percent original I would say it
does matter however that it is effective
that is what we need to seek
effectiveness in our work now if it’s
additionally original or totally new
Bravo but if not why stress ourselves
it’s working and it’s going well and
that should be our aim and with all of
that hopefully we have the L of the
parcel which is learning so my final
words this is back to John Tarkin when
he was only a couple of years old and
you can see him sitting in a very small
room this was actually a very small room
with a closet in it where we put linen
and towels and this was his space he
would go in there with Sylvester his
soft toy his favorite soft toy at the
time he would sing to himself he would
talk to either himself or Sylvester and
he need to come out happy but he would
want that door closed he was in a box
but he was being productive and he was
happy in there so there will be times
when we will be in the box and we should
explore in the box
let us not always think outside the box
I know that’s our thing but we need to
know what box we are talking about thank
you [Applause]
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