Nothing lends itself to a bit of reflection more than a
rainy and foggy day while you are on vacation. The musty smells of the cottage
that are so quaint when the sun is out and the breeze moves through the house,
force the brain into contemplation of the past as the clouds refuse to
clear. So often, the frenetic pace
of the end of the school year and the resulting collapse at its completion
precludes reflection of the courses that were just completed. Similarly, the
start of the school year always leans towards completion rather than contemplation.
Looking back on the second year of the Global Action Project, there is no doubt that I am pleased with the progress that course has
made, but I am also a bit disappointed that the course did not coalesce the way
I had envisioned and that elements were not scaffolded as carefully as I had
wanted throughout the year. Like
most teachers, I am never satisfied with the final product.
Here are my hopes for GAP 3.0:
Begin with an entry activity: Suzie Boss visited our school
and gave a terrific workshop on PBL. She put me on the spot asking what the entry
activity was for the Global Action Project and I had to admit, I did not have
one. I simply thought my enthusiasm for the course and my vision of where the
course would go was sufficient. With this is mind, I am considering either
having the students carry heavy buckets of water around with them all day at school or examine
their daily budgets to see if they could live on the salary commiserate with
those who survive at the Bottom of the Pyramid. There is an additional option
of having them check their slavery footprint, but I worry that this may be a
bit incendiary so early on.
Incorporate more reflection: While there is no doubt that I
think reflection is important, I push it to the way side for two reasons: time
and sincerity. To truly have the students engage in reflection, I have to push
them beyond the compulsory and often rushed practice of what I call “puking on
paper.” I need to structure, prod, and push back in order for them to realize
that I am serious about this activity. I also struggle with the format for
this. Blogging seems to really have been tainted for them in some respects and
could be a bit too public for the type of person insight I hope they offer. I tried fancy Moleskin journals one year, but so many of the students now prefer to type that it didn't work out either.
Utilize online resources: I have always wanted to make a
subscription to FastCo part of the required reading for the course, but just
didn’t know how to manage it. The magazine is well-designed and has lots of
articles that the students can examine to help them see how people are
innovating and thinking about the world.
Additionally, there is always a section on social entrepreneurism
sharing a story of someone’s work from around the world. This, in addition to
TED talks and other online resources such as NYT Fixes, presents an opportunity and a challenge.
I want the materials to be fresh and relevant. I want to work with the students
on how they move through evaluating the types of materials they will be reading
for the rest of their adult lives, but at the same time, how do you stay current,
keep up, vet and structure assignments for ever-changing materials. Also, how
do you engage students in reading these materials without asking them to simply
summarize the articles?
Break down steps in the design thinking process: Surprisingly
in the end of the year surveys, the students responded that they found the
design-thinking process helpful. This was not what I anticipated as throughout
the year, they shared that the process was too long and confusing. With this
validation, I plan on breaking down a few more steps of the process for them.
First, during the discovery stage, the process calls for identifying one’s
biases. While this seems obvious to an adult, it is a rather new exercise for
students. One of the research methods used is to fill out an empathy map, that
too seems relatively obvious, but needs to be exercised a few times in order
for students to see how helpful something of this nature can be. Finally, I am
still searching for a way to keep the students from jumping to a conclusion and
to honor the process. Brainstorming and visual organizers are still challenging
the patience of a busy student.
Create more opportunities for pitches: While I did manage to
incorporate more chances for students to pitch and present their ideas, including
video taping them and asking them to review their performances, there
presentations during the final symposium could still be better. Just finishing Daniel Pink’s To Sell is
Human, I am even more convinced of the importance of “selling” for students.
Pink presents a convincing argument regarding why our students will all be in
sales in the future and that we all spend a remarkable amount of time
“persuading, convincing and influencing others to give up something they’ve got
in exchange for what we’ve got.” But these “sales” also involve listening and
leaving people in a better position once your transaction has been completed.
In the world of social entrepreneurism, this is key. Students need to be able
to listen to the needs of the people they hope to serve and then determine a
way to improve their situation in life. Pink’s advocacy for “attunement, buoyancy, and clarity” are
perfect 21st Century skills as well as the skills of a social
entrepreneur. Another interesting clarification on the pitch that Pink offers
is this: “The purpose of a pitch isn’t necessarily to move others immediately
to adopt your idea. The purpose is to offer something so compelling that it
begins a conversation, brings the other person in as a participant, and
eventually arrives at an outcome that appeals to both of you.” The goal is not
necessarily to teach students how to sell someone on their idea, but to be
better about understanding those they are working with in order to find a
solution or innovation that serves them all.
So these are the goals for GAP 3.0. I am always so grateful
every August to have another crack at things in hopes of making the course
better and the experience more meaningful for the students. But I will leave my
thoughts here as the sun has started to peak out from the clouds and the cool
air outside is beckoning: summer is not quite over.
