Tag: Experienced Teacher

Innovation Often Means Teaching Against The Grain – TeachThought

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November 18, 2025 | Updated November 15, 2025

by TeachThought Staff

Recently I came across this interesting article: Shifting from Pedagogy to Heutagogy and whilst espousing all contained within, it got me thinking about the inescapable perils faced when adopting this and other progressive forms of teaching.

See also 7 Differences Between Good And Great Teachers

Going against the grain can be a lonely experience at times, and whilst sound theory and instinct act as a nice warm blanket against the cold, one could well do with a practical survival guide to assist in implementing new practice. Teachers need to be prepared for the reality of what lies ahead of them to assist in the reshaping of their classrooms, and to ultimately strengthen their resolve in maintaining the chosen epistemology.

Most progressive teaching models from Heutagogy, Constructivism, to PBL concern themselves essentially, as much as possible, with placing the process and outcomes of learning in the hands of the learner. But let’s cut to the chase here, implementing such pedagogy is very messy, requires enormous patience, a degree of pragmatism, and most importantly, needs a teacher of great skill who can de-school their students to engage with it.

See

1. De-schooling means re-tooling.

When shifting your teaching practice to a style that centers itself more on the learner and less on the teacher, be prepared for many students (and parents) to vehemently complain that you are not teaching them, and the inevitable confidence killing that these savage claims create. Never is this feeling stronger when you have students of good ability beginning to complain. In these times it can seem as though you are robbing Peter to pay Paul, but in order to counter such occasion, ensure you have a very well thought-out plan and rationale that can be defended in case your line manager decides to investigate their ire, and more importantly, one that you can talk yourself through in predictable moments of doubt.

Always remember what constitutes real learning, and you’ll be fine.

2. Be pragmatic.

Having said that, it would be wise to initiate the students with small doses of the new style, easing them in to what can be for many an uncomfortable territory. Imagine the look on most students’ faces if you begin the unit by saying ’Ok, here are the outcomes you need to achieve by the end of the unit, but you design the learning to achieve it.’ This is not just throwing students into the deep end. This is dropping them out of a helicopter into the middle of the ocean.

You need to set up the space, set up the culture for them to succeed in: how to research, how to work cooperatively, how to set incremental goals, how to manage time, how to work independently. Remember, by the end of high school, students have had up to 11+ years of teacher-led learning, and as they get older, have been told probably thousands of times how important it is to achieve a certain grade, a grade which may seem in jeopardy without the strong lead of the teacher.

This blending is exactly what I find myself doing. I always begin a unit with a strong learner-based approach, and slowly incorporate a much more guided flow towards the end as we approach assessment. No matter what anyone says, it is at the end of the unit that we have to be pragmatic: students will be tested on specific learning outcomes, and there’s a lot at stake for me as a teacher if they aren’t met. The overall aim however is to continually manipulate the ratio in favor of learner-based learning.

3. Patience (amongst great mess) is a virtue.

This is where lots of patience comes in. With some groups, it may take much much longer to make it standard practice. You have to remember that to achieve success with student-centered learning is by no means an easy feat, and so you must be patient with yourself as you try to get it right. You have to be especially patient with the messiness of it all.

The messiness can be overwhelming at times, particularly with learners who have been largely disconnected to learning. For them, it can seem like a free ride, a chance to do nothing, and the compulsion to manage and structure such occasions by reverting to old tricks is strong. In such instances, guidance and coercion down a certain path may be the only chance of keeping the dream alive. But this needn’t mean that it has to be completely teacher-led. Ensuring students arrive at an end outcome doesn’t mean that there is only one way to get there.

Sensible bridging strategies are not compromises, but smart decisions made to stay afloat.

4. No pain, no gain.

If it all sounds quite daunting, that’s because it is. But we shouldn’t expect any less, because after all we are talking about perfecting teaching models that take a teacher to the top of the game. The number of times I’ve fallen off the wagon are too countless to name, but I always return, knowing that the learning is significantly stronger and that ironically, eventually the compulsory testing yields better results.

But more than that, I keep returning because when it works, the feeling that I get observing students learning for themselves and assuming ownership of their experience is one of pure joy, and always confirms why I love education.

Adapted image attribution flickr user Dan; Innovation Often Means Teaching Against The Grain

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TeachThought Staff

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November 18, 2025
What Did You Learn In School Today? 44 Alternatives
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by Terry Heick

You care but it’s a tired cliche–limps out of your mouth, barely alive: “How was school?”

You might use a slight variation like, “What’d you learn in school today?” but in a single sentence, all that is wrong with ‘school.’

First, the detachment–you literally have no idea what they’re learning or why. (You leave that up to school because that’s what school’s for, right?) This means you know very little about what your children are coming to understand about the world, only able to speak about it in vague terms of content areas (e.g., math, history).

Then, there’s the implication–they don’t talk about the way that they’ve been moved or impressed upon or changed but in the rarest cases; you have to drag it out of them.

And there’s also the matter of form–you ask them as if a developing learner will be able to articulate the nuance of their own learning to make for a conversation that will do anything but make it seem like they learned nothing at all. So what to do?

Well, that idea of form has some legs, doesn’t it? Show me. Demonstrate it. Let’s look at some artifacts that show thought and affection. Let’s see the impact of your work and effort. That’d actually make a pretty good post in itself. But let’s stick to the old questions-on-the-car-ride-home or over-the-dinner-table format.

What are some alternatives to “What’d you learn at school today?” Here are a few ideas.

25 Alternatives To “What’d You Learn In School Today?”
1. When did you notice yourself most interested and curious today?
2. Was there a time today when you were especially confused? How did you respond?
3. What is one thing that was hard to believe? Not confusing, but surprising?
4. If you were more ____ today, how would it have impacted the day?
5. When were you most creative today?
6. Tell me one fun thing you learned, one useful thing you learned, and one extraordinary thing you learned.
7. What does a successful day at school look like to you? Feel like?
8. What sort of different reasons do your friends go to school?
9. Who worked harder today, the teacher or the students?
10. How else could you have learned what the teacher taught?
11. How do your teachers show they care?
12. What do you know, and how do you know it?
13. What would you like to know more about?
14. What is the most important thing you learned today? The least?
15. Tell me one chance you took today, and how it ended up.
16. What is one thing you learned from a book?
17. What is one thing you learned from a friend?
18. What is one thing you learned from a teacher?
19. What still confuses you?
20. What is something you said or heard that stuck with you for some reason?
21. Based on what you learned today in ______ class, what do you think you’ll learn tomorrow?
22. Tell me three facts, two opinions, and one idea you heard today.
23. What should you do with what you’ve learned?
24. When did you surprise yourself today?
25. What’s stopping you from being an (even more) amazing learner?
More ‘Questions To Ask Students After School’: Alternatives To “How was school?”

A few readers chimed in with their own alternatives.

Drew Perkins: “What great questions did you ask today?”

Heather Braum: “What did you discover?”

Heather Braum: “What surprised you?”

Heather Braum: “Where did you travel?”

Eoin Linehan: “Why are you learning that?”

Eoin Linehan: “How do you know you are learning?”

Kristine Kirkaldy: “What did you learn/do that made you smile today?

Mrs. Moore: “What was your favorite part of school today?”

Amanda Couch: “Tell me your favorite moment at school today.”

Deb Gaskin: “If you had been responsible for the lesson, what would you have emphasized or done differently? Why?”

Robin Smith: “What was your “good” for today? What was your ‘bad’?”

Laura Cobb: “What did you improve today?”

Laura Cobb: “What challenged your thinking?”

Laura Cobb: “How did you contribute to other students’ learning?”

Jackie Gerstein: “What touched your heart today?”

Jackie Gerstein: “Did you experience anything at school that motivates you to make a difference in the world?”

Jackie Gerstein: “Did you experience any “aha’s” today – understanding or seeing something different than you previously had?”

Jackie Gerstein: “Did you experience any moments of full enjoyment in learning today? If so, when and how?”

Jackie Gerstein: “Did you invent or create anything new today?”
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Terry Heick

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November 4, 2025
Social Emotional Learning Strategies For The Classroom

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contributed by Meg Price, the ei experience

Social-emotional learning (SEL) by definition is a process for learning life skills, including how to deal with oneself, others, and relationships, and work in an effective manner.

Although there are many great SEL programs, SEL can also be incorporated into each lesson as a way of teaching students to understand how to action the skills in a variety of situations and form positive habits. All students start school with some level of social and emotional skills, and all will develop their social and emotional skills at different rates.

Parents and teachers are both responsible for teaching students life skills, and certainly, much of what they learn will be by watching our actions. The five strategies below are will not only benefit students’ social-emotional learning, but can also be beneficial to teachers’ well-being, too.

See also The Benefits Of Social-Emotional Learning

5 Strategies For Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning Into Your Classroom

1. Through mindfulness

Mindfulness is: paying attention, in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.

We are hearing more and more about the benefits of mindfulness for children. Increased attention leads to better performance academically and increased emotional and social intelligence. Children are better able to learn, nurture themselves, and be aware of their own emotional needs.

Mindfulness practices help students focus on their breath, body, thoughts, feelings, and the world around them. When they can observe their thoughts and feelings, they have the freedom to choose how they will speak and act–which can lead to a happier, more harmonious classroom.

There are many mindfulness activities available for free–on YouTube, for example. Further, there are mindfulness and meditation apps that can provide frameworks for getting started. Why not start each lesson with a different mindfulness activity?

2. Clarify that thoughts lead to feelings

Research shows that students who are more resilient are more academically successful. Resilient students bounce back quicker, are mindful of their thinking, understand their beliefs, and, importantly are able to challenge their beliefs and thoughts to create more positive outcomes.

This is an important concept because we may not always be able to influence what happens to us, but we do have a powerful influence on how we interpret what happens to us and how we deal with it. Many students are unaware that their thoughts play a large role in influencing how they feel.

No matter what happens to you, nobody can take this away from you. It is an empowering lesson to teach whenever you hear a student express frustration, anger, and other negative emotions. As a teacher, you can help by listening for the emotion, then helping your student understand where that emotion came from and how to adjust their thinking in a way that contributes to their social-emotional well-being.

3. Model persistence and determination

A really important aspect of well-being and SEL is the ability to accomplish things in life. Many students naturally strive to better themselves in some way, whether they are seeking to master a skill, achieve a valuable goal, or win in some competitive event.

Other students need some coaching in this area. Teaching students each and every lesson that accomplishes things takes effort, patience, and perseverance are important. Praise for effort is critical in this area of SEL. Each student will need to be encouraged to set stretch goals during lessons to feel a sense of accomplishment.

By being mindful and challenging negative thoughts, students can be encouraged to dig deep to find the determination to succeed.

4. Listen with empathy

Put another way, listen to be surprised.

Part of SEL is an understanding of the importance of positive relationships. To have these relationships, we need to have and teach empathy. Teachers have a wonderful ability to model empathy. Encourage students to listen to others, then ask them to listen to be surprised and understand how other students might be feeling. What opportunities do you have each class to find ways for students to help each other and learn something new about other people’s ideas?

Use the opportunity in class to teach students to ask questions framed to encourage response, not encourage defensiveness. For example, when John says, “Sam, why can’t you just follow the instructions?” encourage John to re-frame his question for a better understanding of what Sam is seeking “Sam, can we work through these instructions together to ensure they make sense?

Tone matters in teaching.

5. Emphasize gratitude

Once again, research is showing us that a really important aspect of well-being is gratitude. This research indicates those who regularly express gratitude have more energy and enthusiasm, less stress, and better physical well-being. There are some very simple ways to increase your experience and expression of gratitude; however, this may require that we train ourselves to think differently.

For students, this can be done by incorporating some simple exercises into each lesson. At the end of each class, ask students to reflect on the class using these three questions:

– What aspects of this class did you enjoy today?

– Who did you enjoy working with today?

– What areas of this topic would you like to learn more about?

Most importantly, above all have fun in each and every class; learning should be fun and play is a really important part of Social-Emotional Learning!

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TeachThought Staff

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October 20, 2025
Why Teaching Critical Thinking Starts With The Student

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by Terry Heick

The first step in helping students think for themselves just might be to help them see who they are and where they are and what they should know in response.

See also 100 Questions That Help Students Think About Thinking

If we truly want students to adapt their thinking, design their thinking, and diverge their thinking, it (the thinking) has to start and stop in a literal place. Generally, this means beginning with the learning target a teacher establishes and ending with an evaluation of how the student ‘did.’

Isn’t that, at best, odd? Thinking has nothing to do with content. Thinking is a strategy to learn content but they are otherwise distinct. This process, then, is about thought and learning rather than content and mastery.

Examining A Self-Directed Learning Framework

In 2013, we created a framework to guide students in self-directed learning. The idea was/is for each student to truly think for themselves in large part by examing what was worth thinking about for them and why. There are two theories that underpin this concept of students being able to create and navigate their own learning pathways:

1. Wisdom (e.g., knowing what’s worth understanding) is more important than content (e.g., mastery of academic standards).

2. Advances in technology have created an ecology that can support the pursuit of wisdom and content mastery (in that order)

These theories don’t sound outrageous but compared to existing educational forms they can seem strange. How we plan, how we determine success, how we offer feedback, and even how our schools are physically arranged all reflect a way of thinking that places priority on the student’s ability to constantly prove mastery of content delivered to them.

By now this is a tired argument but one theory is that modern education can be characterized by its industrial form and its managerial tone. Its primary movers are standards, policies, and teachers rather than content, relationships, and creativity. Its outcomes are universal and impersonal, which is fine for skills but fails to resonate much further.

One response is to support students in designing their own learning pathways, in terms of content (what’s studied), form (how it’s studied), and most critically, purpose (why it’s studied). The end result is, ideally, students who can ‘think for themselves.’

Teaching Students To Think For Themselves: Examining A Self-Directed Learning Framework

Big Idea: Promote self-directed & critical learning

There are 6 areas in the self-directed learning framework:

1. Self: (e.g., What citizenships am I a member of, and what does that suggest that I understand?)

2. Context: (e.g., What are the contexts of this topic or idea?)

3. Activate: (e.g., What do I or others know about this topic or idea?)

4. Pathway: (e.g., What resources or thinking strategies make sense for me to use?)

5. Clarify: (e.g., Based on what I’ve learned so far, how should I revise my intended pathway?)

6, Apply: (e.g., What changes in myself should I see as a result of new understanding?)

Self-Knowledge As A Starting Point

1. What’s worth understanding?

Out of all of the ideas and circumstances you encounter on a daily basis, what’s worth understanding? What knowledge or skills or in-depth understandings would support you on a moment-by-moment basis? What’s the difference between recreation, interest, curiosity, and passion?

This even can be overtly academic. For example:

In math, what’s valuable? What can math do for ‘you’–the place you live or the people you care about or the environment you depend on to live?

What can rich literature enable you to see or do?

What perspective can a study of history provide?

What mistakes can a scientific approach to things prevent?

2. What problems or opportunities are within my reach?

It sounds noble to want to solve world hunger or play the violin at Carnegie Hall but that may or may not be in your immediate reach. Right here, right now, what can you do to get there?

3. What important problems & solutions have others before me created?

Interdependence–realizing where we, as a family, neighborhood, state, nation, species, etc. have been, and what trends and patterns emerge under study that we can use to make sense of where we’re going?

What are our collective achievements–poetry, space travel, human rights, etc.?

What are our collective failures–poverty, racism, ecological damage, etc.?

And with this in mind, how should I respond?

4. What citizenships and legacies am I a part of & what do those memberships suggest that I understand?

This is kind of the ultimate question for the first step of the SDL model, and the final step: To ‘what’ do I belong, and how can I care-take that membership through my understanding and behavior?

Below are some hypothetical examples of student responses.

I belong to the ‘Johnson’ family, a family long involved in photography and art. So how should I respond?

I live in an area that used to be ‘nice’ but has recently devolved through a lack of civic voice and action. So how should I respond?

I love social media but am concerned with how it’s affecting my self-image/thinking/life. So how should I respond?

I’m an American, a Nigerian, a Canadian. I’m from The Netherlands or Prague or Paris or Tel Aviv or Peru. So how should I respond?

I love books, I love fashion, I love nature, I love creating–how should I respond?

My parents were divorced, and their parents were divorced. So how should I respond?

I am poor. I am rich. I am anxious. I am curious. I am loved. I am lonely. I am confident. I am uncertain. How should I respond?

The First Step In Helping Students Think For Themselves; image attribution flick user flickeringbrad; Teaching Students To Think For Themselves

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Terry Heick

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October 3, 2025
20 Teacher Tools To Create Online Assessments

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20+ Teacher Tools To Create Online Assessments (2025)

Build quick checks, quizzes, exams, and performance tasks with the classroom-ready tools below. For broader teaching stacks, see
Teacher Productivity Tools,
MOOCs for Teachers & Students, and
Essential EdTech Tools.

Online Assessment Tools

URL for this post: https://www.teachthought.com/technology/teacher-tools-to-create-online-assessments/

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TeachThought Staff

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October 3, 2025
45 Design Thinking Resources For Teachers And Students
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Educators and students at all levels are using design thinking to create solutions for real-world problems. Whether you’re new to the concept or looking for fresh ideas, this updated and curated list features high-quality resources that are free, low-cost, or easily accessible to help you get started today.

Essential Toolkits & Guides
- IDEO U & Design Thinking for Educators
  
  A comprehensive toolkit and set of resources from the leading design firm. It provides a step-by-step process for applying design thinking in the classroom. This is an excellent starting point for any educator.
  
  Explore the IDEO Toolkit
- Stanford d.school K12 Lab
  
  The home of modern design thinking offers a range of tools and project ideas specifically for K-12 teachers. Their famous “Wallet Project” is a fun and engaging way to introduce design thinking to students.
  
  Visit the Stanford d.school K12 Lab
- Frog Design’s Collective Action Toolkit
  
  A free, downloadable toolkit with activities to help groups organize and collaboratively create solutions. This is perfect for team-based projects in the classroom.
  
  Download the Collective Action Toolkit
- HFLI Learning Studio: Design Thinking Educator Resources
  
  A resource library offering free mini-lessons, design challenges, and activities for K-12 educators. These are especially useful for getting started with specific parts of the design process, like Empathy Mapping or Ideation.
  
  Explore HFLI Learning Studio
Practical, Ready-to-Use Curricula & Lessons
- Google’s Applied Digital Skills Program
  
  This program offers a free curriculum with project-based lessons that naturally integrate a design thinking approach. Students learn digital skills while following a “prototype, test, and refine” model.
  
  Explore Google’s Applied Digital Skills
- AIGA Design Teaching Resource
  
  The AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) hosts a peer-populated platform where educators can share assignments and teaching materials. It’s a great place to get inspiration and connect with other design-minded teachers.
  
  Browse the AIGA Resource
- California Academy of Sciences: Design Thinking Challenges
  
  A collection of lesson plans that use design thinking to solve real-world problems related to science and the environment, such as designing a sustainable food system. Great for STEM classrooms.
  
  View the Science-Based Challenges
- TeachEngineering
  
  This resource offers free, standards-aligned STEM curriculum for grades K-12. Many of the lessons are structured around the engineering design process, a close cousin of design thinking.
  
  Search the TeachEngineering Curriculum
Inspiring Case Studies & Background
- Edutopia: Design Thinking in Schools
  
  A trusted source for innovative teaching, Edutopia provides articles, videos, and blog posts from educators who have successfully implemented design thinking in their classrooms. A great resource for real-world examples and inspiration.
  
  View Edutopia’s Design Thinking Collection
- Project H Design
  
  This non-profit organization uses design thinking to improve education and communities. The documentary “If You Build It” highlights their work and provides a powerful case study for students on design as a social act.
  
  Learn About Project H Design
- IBM SkillsBuild: Free Design Thinking Course
  
  IBM offers a free online course for students and educators to learn the basics of design thinking. It’s a great way for older students to earn a digital badge and add a valuable skill to their resume.
  
  Enroll in the IBM Course
Advanced Reading & Professional Development
- “What is Design Thinking?” by IxDF
  
  This comprehensive article provides a detailed overview of design thinking, its mindsets, and frameworks. It is a fantastic resource for educators who want to go deeper into the theory behind the practice.
  
  Read the Article from the Interaction Design Foundation
- UVA Darden School of Business Online Courses
  
  For higher education professionals and motivated high school teachers, UVA offers a series of courses that apply design thinking to complex problems, including those in the social and public sectors.
  
  Discover Darden’s Online Courses
- Stanford University’s Online Creativity & Design Thinking Program
  
  A series of online courses and certificate programs to help you continuously produce breakthrough ideas. The content is directly from the Stanford d.school faculty.
  
  Explore Stanford’s Online Program
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TeachThought Staff

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August 20, 2025
Which Content Is Most Important? The 40/40/40 Rule

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by Terry Heick

I first encountered the 40/40/40 rule years ago while skimming one of those giant (and indispensable) 400 page Understanding by Design tomes.

The question was simple enough. Of all of the academic standards, you are tasked with ‘covering’ (more on this in a minute), what’s important that students understand for the next 40 days, what’s important that they understand for the next 40 months, and what’s important that they understand for the next 40 years?

As you can see, this is a powerful way to think about academic content.

Of course, this leads to the discussion of both power standards and enduring understandings, curriculum mapping, and instructional design tools teachers use every day.

But it got me thinking. So I drew a quick pattern of concentric circles–something like the image below–and started thinking about the writing process, tone, symbolism, audience, purpose, structure, word parts, grammar, and a thousand other bits of ELA stuff.

Not (Necessarily) Power Standards

And it was an enlightening process.

First, note that this process is a bit different than identifying power standards in your curriculum.

Power Standards can be chosen by looking at these standards that can serve to ‘anchor and embed’ other content. This idea of “40/40/40” is more about being able to survey a large bundle of stuff and immediately spot what’s necessary. If your house is on fire and you’ve got 2 minutes to get only as much as you can carry out, what do you take with you?

In some ways, it can be reduced to a depth vs breadth argument. Coverage versus mastery. UbD refers to it as the difference between “nice to know,” “important content,” and “enduring understandings.” These labels can be confusing–enduring versus 40/40/40 vs power standards vs big ideas vs essential questions.

This is why I loved the simplicity of the 40/40/40 rule.

It occurred to me that it was more about contextualizing the child in the midst of the content, rather than simply unpacking and arranging standards. One of UbD’s framing questions for establishing ‘big ideas’ offer some clarity:

“To what extent does the idea, topic, or process represent a ‘big idea’ having enduring value beyond the classroom?”

The essence of the 40/40/40 rule seems to be to look honestly at the content we’re packaging for children, and contextualize it in their lives. This hints at authenticity, priority, and even the kind of lifelong learning that teachers dare to dream about.

Applying The 40/40/40 Rule In Your Classroom

There’s likely not one single ‘right way’ to do this, but here are a few tips:

1. Start Out Alone

While you’ll need to socialize these with team or department members soon, it is helpful to clarify what you think about the curriculum before the world joins you. Plus, this approach forces you to analyze the standards closely, rather than simply being polite and nodding your head a lot.

2. Then Socialize

After you’ve sketched out your thinking about the content standards you teach, share it–online, in a data team or PLC meeting, or with colleagues one afternoon after school.

3. Keep It Simple

Use a simple 3-column chart or concentric circles as shown above, and start separating the wheat from the chaff. No need to get complex with your graphic organizer.

4. Be Flexible

You’re going to have a different sense of priority about the standards than your colleagues. These are different personal philosophies about life, teaching, your content area, etc. As long as these differences aren’t drastic, this is normal.

5. Realize Children Aren’t Little Adults

Of course, everyone needs to spell correctly, but weighing spelling versus extracting implicit undertones or themes (typical English-Language Arts content) is also a matter of realizing that children and adults are fundamentally different. Rarely is a child going to be able to survey an array of media, synthesize themes, and create new experiences for readers without being able to use a verb correctly. It can happen, but therein lies the idea of power standards, big ideas, and most immediately the 40/40/40 rule: One day–40 days. 40 months, or even 10 years from now–the students in front of you will be gone–adults in the “real world.”

Not everything they can do–or can’t do–at that time will be because of you no matter how great the lesson, assessment design, use of data, pacing guide, or curriculum map. But if you can accept that–and start backward from worst-case “if they learn nothing else this year, they’re going to know this and that–then you can work backward from those priorities.

Those content bits that will last for 40 years–or longer.

In your content area, on your curriculum map, pacing guide, or whatever guiding documents you use, start filling up that little orange circle first and work backward from there.

Which Content Is Most Important? The 40/40/40 Rule

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Terrell Heick

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October 28, 2024
The Most Dangerous Phrase In Education

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by Terry Heick

I was speaking (tweeting) with Mark Barnes tonight, and he mentioned the idea of challenging existing forms and practices. And then someone tweeted the above image–a quote attributed to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, according to the image source globalnerdy.com–and I was happy and favorited and saved and blogged.

“We’ve always done it this way” implies legacy and tradition, which can be good. But it’s also one of the most dangerous phrases we can use—and this danger extends to education, as well.

I talk a lot about disruptive teaching and paradigm shifting in teaching and learning not because I’m inherently rebellious, or some kind of academic anarchist. I’ve just taught long enough–in a wide variety of places–to realize that this idea of progress–and slow iteration–through data and sharing and ‘opening our classroom door’ just isn’t sufficient.

It’s not bad, it just doesn’t reflect the priority and urgency of our collective challenge. At best, students come to school to play the game and be thought of as smart and successful; at worst, they come to disrupt and resist and simply make it through the year because they see no value in what they do.

We have to create laws to force students to come to school, and it’s often the students that need school the worst who aren’t ‘made’ for it; that is, school is made for students who are strong readers and writers that can manage their work while learning to play nicely with others.

Changing lives usually comes from relationships with teachers rather than the power of curriculum. But talking about mobile learning, self-directed learning, new content areas, adaptive learning, or valuing questions over answers can kill conversations in school and elicit polite smiles from teachers, mainly because those aren’t the rules of the game they know.

The problem with the safe approach to teaching is that it won’t yield anything other than what we’ve always had. Without doing things radically different, the most we can hope for is some kind of increment. This isn’t a plea for chaos, but rather the courage to make mistakes.

The phrase, ‘We’ve always done it this way’ symbolizes stagnant thinking and a resistance to innovation, reflecting an unwillingness to question established methods or consider new ideas. This mindset often stifles creativity, limits progress, and prevents growth by clinging to outdated practices simply because they are familiar.

It can also create an environment where change is seen as a threat rather than an opportunity for improvement, discouraging individuals from challenging the status quo or exploring alternative solutions. Over time, this rigid adherence to tradition can lead to missed opportunities, decreased efficiency, and a lack of adaptability in a rapidly evolving world. To foster innovation and continuous improvement, it’s crucial to replace this mindset with one that values flexibility, embraces change, and encourages forward-thinking approaches.

To ‘experiment’ on students (because that’s what’s already happening anyway). Dream, try, and collect data.

Do something different this year.

Don’t necessarily–and mindlessly–do what you’re told.

Light up a new pathway.

Creatively, professionally, and persistently agitate your department, grade level, school, or district to not just become the best version of their existing selves, but become something else that they didn’t think was possible.

The same hope you have for your students.

The Most Dangerous Phrase In Education

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Terrell Heick

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September 26, 2024
3 Knowledge Domains For The 21st-Century Student

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by TeachThought Staff

Thinking in the 21st century is just different.

That doesn’t mean we’re all suddenly omnipotent cyborgs, nor do we all become mindless social media addicts who spend our cognitive might tapping, swiping, and drooling on our smartphone and tablet screens.

But just as the 19th century presented unique challenges to information processing compared to the 18th or 20th, the 21st century is different from the one before it or from the one that will come after.

punyamishra.com recently released the following graphic, which I thought was interesting. It identified knowledge types for modern learning, settling on Foundational, Humanistic, and meta knowledge.

3 Knowledge Domains For The 21st Century Student

1. Foundational Knowledge (To Know)

Digital/ICT Literacy, Core Content Knowledge, Cross-disciplinary Knowledge

Summary

This domain encompasses the fundamental concepts and principles that form the basis of various fields of study. It includes subjects such as mathematics, natural sciences, history, and language arts. Foundational knowledge provides the framework for understanding more specialized areas of knowledge and is crucial for critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Examples Of Foundational Knowledge

Example 1: In a math classroom, students can learn foundational concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division through hands-on activities like visualizing mathematical operations using manipulatives (such as blocks or counters).

Example 2: Teachers can introduce foundational knowledge of chemistry by conducting hands-on experiments to explore the properties of different elements, compounds, and chemical reactions, such as mixing acids and bases to observe changes in pH.

Example 3: Teachers can introduce foundational knowledge of world history by analyzing timelines and maps to trace the major events, movements, and empires that have shaped global civilizations over time.

Example 4: Teachers can integrate humanistic knowledge by analyzing the characters, motivations, and ethical dilemmas presented in literary texts, encouraging students to empathize with diverse perspectives and experiences.

Example 5: Students can learn about foundational concepts in physics by conducting experiments to understand Newton’s laws of motion, using simple materials like ramps, balls, and spring scales.

2. Humanistic Knowledge (To Value)

Life/Job Skills, Ethical/Emotional Awareness, Cultural Competence

Summary

Humanistic knowledge focuses on studying human experiences, values, and cultures. It includes literature, philosophy, art, religion, and ethics disciplines. Humanistic knowledge helps individuals explore questions of meaning, identity, morality, and social justice, fostering empathy, creativity, and a deeper understanding of the human condition.

Examples Of Humanistic Knowledge

Example 1: Students can use creative writing exercises to express their thoughts, emotions, and insights, drawing inspiration from literary works and personal experiences to explore themes of identity, belonging, and self-discovery.

Example 2: Teachers can facilitate philosophical discussions on timeless questions such as the nature of reality, the meaning of life, and the existence of free will, encouraging students to examine their own beliefs and assumptions critically.

Example 3: Students can engage in debates and Socratic dialogues to explore ethical dilemmas and moral reasoning, applying philosophical concepts to real-world issues and ethical decision-making.

Example 4: Teachers can integrate humanistic knowledge by encouraging students to create artwork inspired by beauty, love, struggle, and transformation, using various media and techniques to express their ideas and emotions.

3. Meta Knowledge (To Act)

Creativity and Innovation, Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking, Communication and Collaboration

Summary

Meta-knowledge refers to knowledge about knowledge itself—the processes, structures, and strategies involved in acquiring, organizing, and evaluating information. It encompasses critical thinking skills, information literacy, research methodologies, and metacognition. Meta knowledge empowers individuals to become lifelong learners, adapt to changing environments, and make informed decisions in a rapidly evolving world.

Examples

Example 1: In any subject area, teachers can incorporate critical thinking skills by posing open-ended questions that require students to analyze information, evaluate evidence, and construct reasoned arguments supported by evidence and logic.

Example 2: Teachers can use case studies or real-world scenarios to challenge students to apply critical thinking skills to complex problems and decision-making situations, encouraging them to consider multiple perspectives and weigh the implications of their choices.

Example 3: Students can use metacognitive tools such as concept maps, graphic organizers, or learning journals to organize and review their thoughts, connect new information with prior knowledge, and identify patterns or gaps in their understanding.

Using This Model In Your Classroom

The simplest way to use this kind of model in your classroom is to consider it a framework for planning, whether at the unit, lesson, or activity level. In that way, you could try to have a balance across the three knowledge domains, or one unit heavily pursuant of Humanistic Knowledge (a To Kill A Mockingbird novel study, for example), while another project-based learning unit focuses on Meta Knowledge.

But on a broader and perhaps more subjective level, this graphic can serve as a simple reminder that our jobs as teachers are to help students understand how to know, value, and act, no matter that the majority of these seem to go beyond common classroom assessment tools.

The concept of knowledge domains can support the development of critical thinking skills. Students can learn to analyze and evaluate information, identify patterns, and conclude by engaging with domains (one of many) like foundational knowledge. Humanistic knowledge promotes empathy, perspective-taking, and the ability to consider diverse viewpoints, while meta-knowledge fosters metacognition, information literacy, and the capacity to think reflectively about one’s thinking process.

The big idea of all learning then may start with knowing, which leads to valuing, which informs action in relevant and authentic communities.

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Terrell Heick

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March 5, 2024
25 Questions To Guide Teaching With Project-Based Learning
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by Terry Heick

I’ve been thinking of the kinds of questions I consider when planning a project–or planning a unit when students plan a project on their own.

There’s a lot to consider here–so much so that 12 isn’t even close to enough, but that’s because I tend to over-complicate things (so my kids tell me). I”ll stick to a ‘primary’ set for the first dozen, and then add a secondary set you can take a gander at below.

I’ve more or less organized them into a kind of spectrum, from the simplest questions to consider, to the most complex. I focused more on creating compelling and student-centered projects, rather than creating a list of questions to use as a checklist for pure academic planning.

For related reading, you might check out the difference between doing projects and project-based learning, as well as our project-based learning cheat sheet that provides some examples to jumpstart your thinking.

A Project-Based Learning Spectrum: 25 Questions To Guide Your PBL Planning

SIMPLE
1. What role is the learner assuming? Designer? Engineer? Brother? Artist? Cultural Critic? Naturalist?
2. What is their purpose? What are they doing, and what should the project itself ‘do’?
3. Who is their audience? Who is the audience of the project’s design, impact, or effect?
4. How can different learning spaces (e.g., classroom, home, digital) work together? To promote meaningful interaction? An authentic audience? Personalized workflow to meet each student’s needs?
5. What kind of support does each student need individually? Who can provide it? How much structure is enough for that student? (Scoring Guide, Teacher-Provided Tools, Rubric, etc.)
6. What’s the ‘need to know’? Is there one? Where did it come from? Is it authentic? Teacher-based, school-based, curriculum-based, or student-based? What are the consequences of each?
7. Which academic standards are the focus of the unit? How will data from formative assessment (that target these standards) help teachers and students respond within the project?
8. Who will provide learning feedback? When? How? And feedback for what–the quality of the project? Progress towards mastery of academic standards? Will it be ‘graded’ with letters, numbers, as a matter of standards-mastery, or some other way? Which way best supports student understanding?
9. How should the product be paced to maintain student momentum? What ‘check-in with the teacher’ markers make sense?
10. How can assessment, iteration, and metacognition improve student understanding?
11. How can the student bring themselves (affections, experience, voice, choice, talent, curiosity) to the project? Also, what is the teacher’s role in the process? Is it the same for every student?
12. What sort of quality criteria make sense? How will we know if the project ‘works’? Was it effective? Performed? Who designs this quality criteria?
13. What kind of project would the student never forget?
14. What’s most critical to the success of the project? Creativity? Critical thinking? Organization? Grit? All may apply, but how might the project be designed to focus on the factors you or the student value most?
15. How can students work within their local community to solve authentic problems, or celebrate meaningful opportunities?
16. Is technology use distracting, useful, or critical to the success of the project?
17. Does it make sense for the project to also be Inquiry-focused? Problem-based?
18. How can students build on their unique schema and background knowledge to produce something special?
19. What role might iteration play in the project?
20. Is the project research-based? Product-based? Service-based?
21. Can mindfulness be embedded into the project to help students see their own thinking, identify barriers and opportunities, and respond in a self-directed way?
22. What filtered (e.g., a teacher-selected book, an encyclopedia) and unfiltered information sources (e.g., a Google search, a social media stream) might they use cooperatively?
23. What learning taxonomies or cognitive actions might guide students to think best? We covered some of these in a recent post, many of which are shown in the graphic below.
24. What scale makes the most sense for the student to work best?
25. Is the project designed to build on student strengths (rather than trying to ‘correct deficiencies’)?
COMPLEX

A Project-Based Learning Spectrum: 25 Questions To Guide Your PBL Planning; image attribution Wikimedia commons (the spectrum to the right)
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Terrell Heick

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November 8, 2023