The Guantlet has been Thrown...

Thanks Steve Wick (@rechargeedu) for sharing this! 

I had the opportunity to visit the architectural firm PBK last year with Klein ISD's new Transform Academy. We watched -very intently- how a high-functioning team operates; and it was truly a mind-blowing experience. 

I realized how we are -as educators- grossly underestimating the skills our students will need to be competitive in their futures. They require Avengers©-like collaborative skills, problem solving ninja skills, and (among many others) be creative innovators. I hear so often how teachers (in 1:1 environments across Texas) use their tech as glorified worksheets or for warm-ups and are very unwilling to change the way they have done things..."because they have 'worked' for so long". At the risk of ruffling feathers, I ask this question: How can we get our students to the "PBK mindset" of innovation and asking questions, this "edutopia", if you will; if so many educators still focus on the answers, rather than the questions?

We must equip them with tools and skills to nurture their inner creators. Thank goodness we have so many amazing resources literally, at our fingertips! We use Google apps in our class to create, collaborate, and innovate. I tossed out the projector and brought in interactive panels and an HD TV. My students collaborate in a variety of ways and have become skilled at working with others, as it is done holistically -every day- in my class. They create with Google Drawings, evaluate and give feedback using Google Slides, experience and experiment with Google Cardboard, Google Earth, and Google Maps, and they will begin communicating with others, globally, using Google Hangouts.

I want to equip these students with the knowledge and skills that will transform their lives, not just their learning. Won't you join me, and help our students be creative independent thinkers that work well with others that possess a global mindset? The gauntlet has been thrown...now it's time for us all- teachers, principals, directors, superintendents, parents- to step up, grab that gauntlet, and leave those worksheets behind.