Getting Googley

HMH and Google partnered to host a symposium on January 19th to 21st. Jaime Casap asked the question "Which question do you ask your students - 1) What do you want to be when you grow up? or 2) What problem in the world do you want to solve?" Changing the mindset of teaching "what was" to "what will be" was made clear to me as I reflected on which question I would ask.

The tradition of teaching students "what was" is not the most valuable lesson students take away from a teacher. The relationship and experiences the student had with a teacher and the life lessons the teacher tries to teach is what students remember. So why is it that teachers will often be rigid on items like grading, homework, and lecture? The tradition in how the teacher was taught and experienced is what they usually pay forward to their students. The "what was" window will close as we will be faced with the "what will be."

This world is faced with many problems that will need to be solved in my liftetime or the next. We would need students to have the mindset and skills that will be able to address those problems. Teaching needs to shift to this goal and move on from the "what was" mentality. Students will then be able to answer the question "What problem in the world do I want to solve?"

A great start is to evaluate the structures I implement in the classroom and identify them as tradition or purposeful. Certain class structures are in place because that's how it's always been done. Why not find structures that will address the goal of "what will be?" Try it, re-iterate it, then master it. Also, taking a look at the instructional design and what type of activities I will have students engage in to fit the "what will be" question would help make shifts happen.