Teaching and inventing go hand and hand.

Why?

Because teachers have to be resourceful and creative when seeking solutions to the challenges of the job.

Alexander Graham Bell is perhaps one of the most famous teacher-inventors. As most school-age children know, Bell taught the deaf and invented the telephone. As a teacher of the deaf, all of Bell’s early experiments had to do with sound and communication. Louis Braille was an inventor-teacher who wanted to help the blind read and write. When he was three years old, Braille was accidentally blinded in one eye. Shortly thereafter, he lost the sight in his other eye as a result of a rare disease. He was sent to a school for the blind where he later became a teacher. Frustrated by a cumbersome method that used raised letters to enable the blind to read, Braille invented a system of raised dots and dashes—a creation that is today known by his name.

Frustration can be the source of invention!

Inventors recognize a problem, and they research and experiment to find the best solutions. Victoria Knight-McDowell, a second grade teacher from Monterey California, was sick of catching colds from students in her classroom, so she began experimenting with developing a natural formula that would boost her immune system so it could better fight off cold-carrying microbes. She consulted nutrition experts and herbalists. The resulting product was named “Airborne,” an effervescent tablet that contained 17 natural ingredients. She distributed her product among fellow school teachers and two years later it had became one of the fastest selling new retail products in history.

Once again, an invention evolved from a teacher’s creative solution to a problem.

Teachers often discover better ways to manage their classrooms and sometimes these discoveries result in marketable inventions. Teacher/inventor Fran Rabello created the Yacker Tracker to help control noise in the classroom. The device is a little traffic light that shines green for appropriate conversation levels, yellow when the volume is rising, and red when talking is too loud and needs to stop. The Yacker Tracker helps remind students to self-monitor the noise level and prevents teachers from always having to shush them. Rather than thwart the learning that takes place in an active classroom, Rabello found a solution that develops communication skills and supports learning.

Another inspiration behind invention is improving efficiency and convenience in the classroom. When I was teaching, I often had trouble locating an eraser when using dry-erase markers. I got tired of using my finger or hand to erase small mistakes on the white board. After doing some research, I invented an attachable eraser for the dry erase markers thereby solving the problem. Now, KleenSlate erasers are widely used in schools, hospitals, businesses, and homes. Frustration was the mother of that invention.

My next invention evolved from wishful thinking. My fellow teachers raved about thei KleenSlate erasers, and then said, “If only there were a whiteboard to go with them.” I quickly realized that they were asking for an individual hand-held whiteboard that students could use it their desks—like the small chalkboard slates that were once used in classrooms. The teachers knew that hand-held devices would provided a quick means of assessing student learning, allow for immediate feedback, and eliminate hours of time spent correcting papers to find out if the students had understood the concept.

The solution came to me one day when I was in the dollar-store where I saw a pair of beach-ball paddles. I bought the paddles and some adhesive-backed whiteboard fabric and went home to create the first Response Paddle prototype, which has since been developed into a handheld dry-erase board with a marker and eraser stored in the handle. This turned out to be just what my fellow teachers wanted. The Response Paddle was so successful that it won the prestigious, 2008 Teacher’s Choice Award by Learning Magazine.

There is no doubt that teachers often have inventive spirits and some of us actualize our inventions and take them beyond the classroom into the business world where they can be used by others. Some teacher-inventors, such as Alexander Graham Bell and I, possess an entrepreneurial spirit and take an invention and turn it into a business. Other teacher-inventors, like Fran Rabello and Louis Braille, are happy inventing, but prefer that someone else to take their ideas to market.

If you are a teacher who responds to frustration or wishful thinking by creating and inventing, consider developing your invention into a marketable product. If you do your homework and are willing to take some calculated risks, you will surely overcome any obstacles as you embark on the inventor’s journey. Remember the beneficiaries of your invention are students and other teachers like yourself.

If you would need an inventor mentor or would like more information on KleenSlate products, contact Julia toll free at 866-313-7273 or visit email her at