I’m titled by my top back to the future
of Education and if you thought there
was a link between the 1980’s movie
series and the u10 program that i’m
going to share with you today you’d be
absolutely correct essentially what i
want to share with you today is where
this College has gone in its attempt to
explore innovation and education and for
me this happened when i started at this
school in 2014 and i felt a call to
action to look at what education looked
like what the current system looked like
and whether we were doing justice to our
students um sir ken robinson i think
everyone would agree who is an educator
is a fairly inspirational speaker pretty
much anything he says you leave with
inspiration and encouragement to to
teach well and be the best teacher you
can be Allen November was someone who we
got to spend a day with at the college
last year he’s from the states and he
talks about students owning their
learning and he’s really interested in
students learning and assessment being
authentic and why he has Jacobs who was
probably the catalyst for the program
that I have the privilege of sharing
with you today she asked the question
what year are you preparing your
students for and I would guess that if
you told her next year she would
probably shake her head at you um you
can watch all of these people on Ted
they’ve all done TED talks and and Astro
tell is another one I haven’t been had
the privilege of seeing in person but
he’s just done a TED talk recently on
celebrating failure and it’s well worth
your time to watch that if we could get
our young people thinking the way his
team at the moonshot factory formerly
known as Google X think that I think
they’d be very set up for the future
that they’re going to face over the next
5 10 15 years and so I spent quite a bit
of time planning and putting together a
proposal for what we affectionately call
the DeLorean project I went to the boss
what I said what do you think this is a
crazy idea let’s push all their academic
subjects to four days a week and let’s
have students spend the fifth day in a
space that they might not be particular
always let’s provide some flexible
opportunities where they actually drive
the learning which students actually
have make the decisions around the
things that they’re going to learn and
and the things that they’re essentially
going to teach themselves and the key
was that we wanted to focus on 20
percentage of skills I think I
Australian Curriculum does a really good
job of defining their skills in what our
culture general capabilities I would
propose today that maybe our current
education system and the people who
write curriculum don’t give those Jenner
Cait general capabilities of the
creedence and the respect that maybe
they deserve and I think our program is
evidence of how important these skills
are our students in year 10 spend one
day a week and they’re being challenged
to collaborate analyze research design
innovate and communicate and most
importantly contribute to a world bigger
than themselves in the immediate school
community we had to come up with a
framework to talk about these skills and
so we used University of Melbourne
framework for 21st century learning the
only thing we didn’t have was a name and
it was through a passing joke in the
staff room at the end of 2015 where I
said to a colleague that I’d asked to be
on the team for this program when it was
in the news that Marty McFly in the
second movie Back to the Future had
traveled to 2015 I said to her maybe we
should just name it after the crazy
scientists in his time machine and she
looked at me and I looked at her and
there was this exciting moment of
silence and we knew we’d actually
stumbled across the name of our program
and the DeLorean project was born we had
to come up with a way to talk about the
projects and the ideas that these
students would create and drive with the
students themselves so they knew that
they were on track and so we created as
a team the DeLorean spheres and every
project that is running in year 10 in
2016 has to meet each of these fears and
so this was a constant go to frame work
for us in our conversations with
students now the thing we had to do on
the first day of school because the
first day of school in 2016 just
happened to be the day
of the DeLorean project on a Wednesday
we had to create a bit of a story and we
found different ways to do that but one
of the ways that we thought we could
create a bit of a narrative with our
students is to actually see if we could
get a DeLorean and we did we brought it
we heard there’s a guy who owns a
DeLorean in our local community and he
was willing to bring it in and it
skidded out with a flux capacitor and a
hoverboard and you’ll see Emmet brands
Einstein dog in the back seat and it was
just a great way to engage kids in this
idea and start talking about the analogy
of a mad scientist who in the face of
all sorts of challenges persevered and
was able to travel through time not just
once but multiple times across the three
movie trilogy as we got to be the end of
of this first part of the program we
realized that these kids had some great
ideas and it was almost scary because as
facilitators we were going how do we
make things happen but that’s part of
the learning journey that we were on to
give you a quick overview because I
don’t have a lot of time so I’m trying
to pack a year’s worth of experience
into 18 minutes we have 90 year 10
students in 2016 of varying abilities
interests and passions and let me just
say one of the main things about this
program was that students were
encouraged to follow their interests and
passions and what we found is that if
they don’t then then then success is a
lot harder to achieve we have seven
passionate DeLorean project facilitators
DPS we like to call them their teachers
and we have 25 projects running from
social justice projects to business
startups to three projects I can’t
easily categorized and and finally six
projects that are science focus that
come from a partnership we have with the
University of the Sunshine Coast we’re
looking at over 200 curriculum hours in
in the you that we’ve spent on on this
program and one of the the poignant
experiences we had was an event that we
called the DeLorean shark tank where
students had done a lot of idea
generation and and really we challenged
them to think big and then what we said
is now you’ve got to pitch this to five
sharks
as in business people in the community
and those sharks were very honest about
the ideas that they saw pitch so for
some students the feedback was really
hard to hear and in fact some groups
dissolved after that because of that
feedback other groups heard some
feedback that maybe wasn’t particularly
positive and they just had perseverance
to carry on and other groups got great
feedback we actually had two groups
approached after the shark tank where
sharks offered further support in a
number of ways and currently we’re now
working towards our final event of the
year which we’ve called d-day our
DeLorean projects showcase in
mid-november where students are
challenged to share their experience one
of the things we very clearly says it’s
not about the end product it’s actually
about the process that these students
have been through and the experiences
they’ve had along the way that we’re
challenging them to share with us and
then of course there’s countless stories
of every project I can tell you 25
different stories and all of them all of
them are stories of success in some way
or another but I’ve got to pick a couple
and so I’d like you to meet the USC
DeLorean team and you’re actually going
to hear from four of these students um I
again took a bit of a risk with dr. Adam
Polkinghorne at the University of the
Sunshine Coast and I asked for an hour
of his time and I sat down and I just
gave it a shop I said this might sound
crazy but what do you reckon about some
mutants having the opportunity to do
some real life learning at the
University and he didn’t say no in fact
he was quite excited about the idea and
through a lot of work and effort we now
have seven students spending their
Wednesday’s working on real research at
the University of the sunshine coast at
Adams Animal Research Center each of
them are being mentored one on one by
one of adam’s PhD students and as you
can imagine the learning that they would
do would be absolutely phenomenal it’s
very unique and we’re really excited to
continue that in 2017 and beyond um this
is pantry mate Pancham 8 formed early on
they’ve stuck together the whole way but
they had a big idea and it was actually
Sophie in the bottom right hand corner
there that realized that all of the
interests in
fashions the group was sharing came down
to two things food and technology and
they came up with the idea of what and
the challenge of whether they could
create a smart pantry a pantry that that
will talk to your phone and essentially
mean you’ll never run out of food your
shopping lists could be created
automatically and you’ll never ask the
question when you’re in the shops
whether you need something because
you’re not um they’ve they’ve been
through two prototypes and and I’ve just
been told today that they’ve just
finished their third for at a time um
they found funding externally for some
of the cost of these prototypes which is
really exciting and and and they’ve
worked through a lot of challenge for a
long time they didn’t get any way they
said the hardest thing they’ve had to do
is work as a team and I’m talking and
aside from that it was just not getting
anywhere having the tenacity to continue
with the idea this is Caitlin and I want
to talk about two more students Caitlin
and Jade and the reason I want to talk
about them is because they are a good
example of us making a really big
mistake both Caitlin and Jane and
believe me we made a lot of mistakes
both Caitlin and Jade were told no
something that that I would really have
not liked to do and but they were told
no for a couple of reasons Caitlin was
told no for two reasons one she wanted
to work as an individual and two she
wanted to speak to middle school
students about anxiety and depression
around the the local community and we
said there’s not the one working as an
individual doesn’t align to collaborate
and two there’s no way that someone’s
going to let a u-turn student in to talk
about something like that with young
people and so we said no one of the
things we’ve asked student students to
do with this project though is to be
really honest so Caitlin came to me at
the end of the first term one she’d been
told no chi that said the saddest thing
for me is that you didn’t give me a
chance to prove myself and we had to
reflect on that and go you know what
you’re right we didn’t so we actually
came back in to turn to and we said okay
here’s your chance now this photo I’ve
cut this photo was taken a couple of
weeks ago I’ve cut it off because the
rest of the photo shows
success it was taken on her way to speak
to 90 year 8 students at a State High
School in incarnate or local community
as of today she’s spoken to over 300
middle school students about an anxiety
and depression she collaborates with at
least two qualified psychologists to
make sure that her content is not only
valuable but it’s correct so on all
facets she proved us wrong she’s
received a public apology from me on
numerous occasions which I’m sure she’s
very excited and happy that and it’s
just a great example of being flexible
to give students the ability to show
that they can achieve something when
most adults would think it’s not
possible jade is another one of our
beloved delorean students who is not
backwards about coming forward and we
love that about judge she will tell us
how it is and that’s exactly what she
did when she started the delorean
project jade was not happy about this
idea and so rather than me tell you
about it I want Jake to tell you herself
and I’ve done it a quick interview with
Jade so she’s going to tell us about her
delorean experience when it started this
year um I didn’t really like the idea of
it because I was like just forcing us to
do something that we’re not really
passionate about all that is it going to
be successful because I didn’t think it
would work sounds like we’re only like
14 and 15 year old so it’s not going to
work and it’s just it’s just a waste of
a way to say I really thought we should
just do another subject and kind of have
another fun year in a sense and so the
first semester of doing a project that I
really was a passionate about was yeah
pretty boring I didn’t really enjoy it
at all what I was really just wanted
Wednesday to be over the unity a box now
this point it’s probably worth
mentioning that Jade is the principal’s
daughter and I don’t know about you but
if you’re trying to create a new program
that’s innovative and different it would
be kind of nice if the principal’s
daughter was on board so that when she
went home and talked about it the
principal was hearing good things um
however this was reality for us we
wanted honesty and so Jade was honest
with us now she was also very mature and
her responses and she worked with
and and I’m very happy to say that today
things are very different for Jane but
again I’d like her to share that with
you so she’s going to do that now after
the shark tank experience and I left the
group that I was in but I wasn’t really
passionate about it all and I sat down
no it’s like if I’m going to make this
worthwhile I’ve got to do something that
I’m really passionate about so i went
into the shark tank thing with my idea
that I was passionate about and to see
in their thoughts because I wasn’t a
hundred percent on it but I just wanted
to see if it could be something and they
told me it couldn’t be anything but they
loved my passion for it so I created a
website where i put up a bunch of blogs
and I do like religion ethics or sunday
school lessons that are available for
purchase I just received thousands of
views and gotten like I think it’s I’d
actually know how many thousand but
there’s a lot of like subscribers and
views and stuff and it became a like
popular thing and people were becoming
more interested and I kept on getting
feedback I have six different mentors
from a couple of them are in Western
Australia so that means like I skype but
I email a lot with him and then I’ve got
two in Brisbane and one with the school
and one with my church and so I just
talked to them a bunch and I get them to
look at all my work and I was sitting
there with my blog and I was like how if
I’m gonna build this I need to like find
someone that is in the industry in a
sense and I was like but who’s in this
industry and I’m like oh hey I love
waking up and reading you version and
I’m like why don’t I just try and get in
contact with them you version is an
online bible app which goes and they do
trackers and they have four different
versions of the Bible and they’re like
hey we read some of your blogs and we
actually think you’re really keen and
they didn’t know I was in your tents you
doing that at all and they were like yep
we’re happy to sponsor you never knew
that something like Sunday school or re
and you know a Christian blog that I’m
passionate about I really didn’t think I
would be successful at the beginning and
that’s awesome the James being very
humble about herself her stats I can
tell you about the stats ah she has had
over 9,000 views on my perspective coke
she’s had seventeen hundred subscribers
email subscribers she’s head sponsorship
is when her
multiple members in this nation and in
America she’s being published externally
which is really exciting one of her
blogs is being published and she’s made
today about for just over four hundred
fifty dollars selling educational
religious religious education resources
Sunday School lessons and that’s all
gone to compassion Australia which is
the again the epitome of real
contribution in our eyes and
interestingly enough some of these
students at a high school in the United
States Oceana high school in California
emailed her and asked if they could
create some posters about her website
and so she’s now getting some notoriety
in a high school in California and
starting to get subscribers through
people promoting her work so for us a
huge win and for Jane something that I
don’t think she ever expected out of a
project that she at first really didn’t
see the value of I’m really keen for the
year almost to be over not so much that
I get out of DeLorean like I thought at
the beginning but so that the projects
my project now for haces program
facilitators that’s about as good as it
gets where students want to continue
their work not because it’s a project or
a program at school but because they
value it and I see they see they see
value in continuing it so Jake thank you
for letting me share your story and and
being honest with us because it’s made
our program much more I think valuable
in itself morphing educational mindset
so I can honestly say that the last 12
months for a bit for me has been the
most transformative months of my almost
15-year career by far it’s taught me a
lot about about teaching and what I
thought teaching was and what it what
may be what it isn’t maybe what it
should be um we’ve found out very
clearly that students are not
comfortable in this sort of context um
they they don’t understand yet that
failure is good that risk-taking is good
and that roadblocks are good that’s been
a real challenge and so we need to start
to cultivate the great and the tenacity
that’s required to overcome roadblocks
and endure
failure because we know that failure
leads to success I’ve learned that
learning should be way messier than then
I than I thought it would and that I
thought it needs to be it should be
adaptable and open to change this
program is the epitome of the process
being far more valuable than the product
and it’s taught me that teaching in a
silo is just not where we should be and
so I’ve called it out of the silo and
onto the stage I’ve haven’t had the
privilege of teaching in front of six
other passionate staff members at the
college and and my strength so I’m able
to to use but when when my weaknesses
are apparent and there are many my
colleagues stand up and take over and
we’re able to partner and and teach on a
whole new level that traditionally we
just don’t do and so to me this should
happen more often as often as it can
it’s okay not to know the answers either
i’m not i don’t know most of the answers
to most of the questions that these
students ask so it’s the idea that the
tip the teachers the font of all
knowledge is absolutely untrue in my
opinion and the most exciting thing for
me is that those general capabilities
those 21st century skills it shown us
how important they are and what’s
exciting is that based on our experience
and the delorean project is that we’re
now exploring what we’re doing in
traditional subjects in an hour other
curriculum to I guess leverage these
skills and make our make ourselves
relevant to the students that we’re
going to be teaching I want to finish
with a quote from Winston Winston
Churchill I admire and respect those
speakers that I talked about it at the
beginning of my presentation I think
they’re amazing people who inspire a
whole lot of teachers and professionals
around the world but sometimes you leave
a speaker speaker like that and you
don’t necessarily get the practical
tools to do anything about that
inspiration and so I guess my
encouragement and talking to you today
is that we should be sharing these
stories that we should be willing to
take risks especially if we’re educators
in positions of leadership I think we
owe it to our students and to preparing
them for the future to take those risks
and be open to changing the way that we
do education I don’t think anyone would
disagree that Winston Churchill got
things done he said well done is better
than well said I encourage people to be
well doers at once they’ve heard the
well sayers thank you [Applause]