The future is, for many of us, the stuff of sci-fi movies: movies which tend to depict post-apocalyptic, depressing, dark (literally) worlds where human survivors battle zombies, aliens or despotic/autocratic governments in an often futile attempt to maintain a life with some semblance of dignity.
Yikes! No wonder the future is a concept that really scares people. And, as I've discussed in a previous post, fear shapes our actions/reactions in ways that are not productive or healthy.
So why am I thinking about the future today at Re(vision) It? Well, isn't education about the future? I've been in the education business for 14 years. In my experience, schools often toss the phrase around that we are "teaching kids for the future". Some are. Some really try. But there are still a lot of schools that don't actually discuss what the future will look like other than the construction of 1, 2 or 5 year plans that seem to be about the future but mostly focus upon a re-hash of tired professional development initiatives, quick-fixes or dismissals of complex problems, and the narrow focus of improving scores on standardised tests.
As well, especially here in North America, there is a strong lobby pushing for back to basics education. I can refer to the recent discussion in my home province of Alberta regarding the future of math education and how, by bringing back the mandatory memorization of the multiplication tables in elementary schools, back to basics math education will enable our children to become leaders in the realm of critical thinking. Yes, I think the powers that be have completely missed the point.
Now, before everyone gets their undies in a knot, I taught grade 12 ELA long enough to understand the necessity of basic skills (and the resultant issues when they don't exist), but, I am very terrified that by maintaining "traditional" teaching practices and/or curricula that haven't changed much since the Victorian Era, we are damaging our student's future even more. Sadly, I think that this focus on basic skills occurs because of two reasons: one, it seems easier to teach material this way and two, back to basics doesn't make parents feel like their own skills are pushed to limits they don't want to admit that they have. Fear seems to drive this educational movement. Education and learning should always have the future and it's lofty hopes and aspirations at its core; a sense that there is always more; that there is a higher purpose behind learning. When, out of fear of failing standardized tests or making parents "angry" we focus upon the "basics" at the expense of essential questions and enduring understandings, possibilities and the future, our fears make us teach in such a way as to limit our students' abilities to be active creators of the future/their future.
Recently, At TED 2014, Charlie Rose asked Larry Page, co-founder of Google, what habit of mind has served him best. Larry's response: curiousity. Seeing the possibilities of the future and doing something about it. But what really struck me was when Page said that the reason he feels so many companies and organizations simply stop existing is that "they missed the future". http://on.ted.com/qmu2
They missed the future. Wow.
I'd hate to think that that might be my legacy. I'd hate to think that my students might miss the future because how I teach them disables their ability to play with, to toy with, two kinds of futures: their own, and the one we will all live in together in the upcoming decades.
So, where am I going with this? How can we revision our practice? Perhaps with giving students access to the future by bringing our innovators, dreamers, inventors, philosophers, futurists, writers, content creators, computer scientists and scientists working on the future into our classrooms. If you need a starting point, go to TED.com. Access the talks of our great thinkers and doers of now. Ensure daily that students SEE the connections between what they are learning in class and the future. Always teach with the big picture in mind. But, most importantly, let your students shape their own futures. Give them the chance to have agency and purpose by teaching them these skills.
Here's an example of how I try to incorporate the future and agency into my daily practice.
Based on Matt Cutt's ted talk http://on.ted.com/c0723 "Try something new for 30 days", my students and I think about our futures and come up with an idea worth trying, a project worth trying, a goal worth trying. . .you get the idea, for 30 days. To make this worthwhile, I have a few stipulations:
- Their goal can't be something mundane like doing their homework or chores every day. If I want to encourage students to be futurists, their idea has to be big.
- Their goal should be slightly scary, risky, out of their zone of proximal development. This feature is important since you can't achieve anything if you aren't pushed out of your comfort zone once and a while. I tell my students that it is okay to fail (they can always try again or revision their goal).
- We express what our 30 day challenges will be and post them publicly (obviously, I have spent a lot of time on creating a safe and open classroom so that we can do this), but, if a student so wishes, they can "pass"; however, their goal has to be handed in to me at least.
- We explore the SMART goal procedure and plan out our challenges.
- Once a week, we have time to check in about our goals and report on our progress.
- After 30 days, we re-evaluate our progress and start over (or continue if need be) .
This activity is a manageable way to get students thinking about the future. It also provides them with a sense of agency, a sense of power, and a sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, over time, many come to realize that the future is not a place of fear, but rather a place to look forward to.
Courtesy of the TED2014 Blog: If you are interested in reading about what the future quite possibly will look like, check out the following links. I'm sure you and your students will find some interesting food for thought (or inspiration).
Let's not miss the future. Let's revision our pedegogical practice together.
Great post, Karen!
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