making dioramas building scenes in a
tiny little shoebox
do you remember trying to get those 3d
figures of animals in people and
characters to stand up does anyone
remember how much hot glue burns your
fingers and trying to keep that project
from falling apart on the school bus do
you remember having to memorize all the
names of the kings in the Tudor monarchy
do you remember any of that stuff we all
had to do it regardless of our unique
talents and passions education over the
years has been a one-size-fits-all
proposition hasn’t it tell me and hear
me out when you go to the dentist which
tooth do you get pulled now that seems
like a silly question because we all
know the decision or not to pull a tooth
depends entirely on what a patient needs
and the dentist must understand that
need before ever ever treating that
patient another question at Starbucks
and I see some of you have it do we all
order a regular coffee or do some order
a tall half skinny half 1% extra hot
split quad shot which is two shots decaf
two shots regular latte with whip you
may not go that far but I’m sure the
long lines in the morning are not
everyone ordering a regular americano we
all have our personal and individual
needs and sure the medical field has
recognizes for years and finally it’s
progressed to something as mundane as
even even ordering that cup of coffee
now let’s shift to education
as educators we work on brains and I
hope you all agree with me in life
brains are more important than teeth
common cure-alls are no longer valid
when it comes to education in today’s
world we have to ask ourselves how can
we shift shift from educating the masses
to educating individuals schools
educators parents they have to be
thoughtful and deliberate when it comes
to educating our children it has to be
relevant and personalized for every
single student one size fits all no
longer fits anyone but as an educator
for 25 years and a parent of two
incredible teenage daughters
I find the one-size-fits-all approach
permeating most schools so why does this
happen
why haven’t schools changed yet the
answer is deeply rooted into schools
past our schools were formed during the
Industrial Age with a major focus on
compliance and efficiency the goal was
to prepare students to work in factories
to sit for long periods of time and do
routine repetitive tasks with no
mistakes thus our school was developing
compliant workers and not inquisitive
thinkers and learners
that model was actually an effective
model even up late through the 20th
century we were supposed to be learning
diligence in compliance and not
necessarily mastering that the skills
taught and the kids they got through
school they got good jobs and typically
lived the quality life many of us here
are beneficiaries of that very system
that said many parents community members
educators believe that students should
have the same experience that they had
in school they see school as something
like a a rite of passage something to
simply endure because they themselves
had to endure it many believed school
was good enough for themselves it has to
be good enough for our kids and they
expect students to learn the way they
learned back at a time when compliance
repetition and memorization we’re the
critical skills needed those skills are
obsolete now and I have to admit as a
teacher I perpetuated the old model my
fifth grade lesson plans were filled
with dioramas and mobiles wanted posters
for characters in a book
silly spelling sentences and yes I even
assigned word searches none of these
activities none of them promoted reading
skills or literacy or demonstrated what
students knew about a topic and I have
to tell you as a student I hated I hated
those projects but as a teacher I felt
compelled to assign them because it’s
what I experienced in college in school
I didn’t even question the value
seriously since you have been out of
school how many of you have built a
diorama
and as a school leader I see this
everywhere I see AP students taking a
class period or more to color in a map
and actually get graded on the quality
of their coloring if they stayed in the
lines
I see middle school students to take a
week to design make and bake a cake
replicating the map of the United States
I am told that Florida is delicious none
of these projects foster geography
skills sure kids may learn how to bake
or may he learn how to color but is that
really the intent of a social studies
class no child ever said this worksheet
changed my life
the one-size-fits-all worksheet does not
promote learning for those students who
can do the worksheet there is very
minimal thinking and for those that
can’t it merely serves as a message you
can’t do this the worksheet and other
traditional practices that no longer
serve our students they just won’t go
away and we teach that way because it’s
easy to to teach the masses it’s easier
to teach everyone the same thing without
personalization without individuality we
teach this way because it was good
enough for us it was good enough at a
time when memorization and compliance
where the skills needed for the labor
force we all know though those skills
and those jobs are gone there are no
more repetitive routine jobs they’ve
been replaced by computers automation
artificial intelligence and technology
our new economy needs
thinkers and learners collaborators
creators and entrepreneurs and that
means we need a fundamental change in
what and how we are teaching our
students we and our schools do not need
to be creating labors or any laborers
anymore we need to be creating learners
students who can initiate and lead their
own learning
we need to collectively realize that the
old model is not good enough for our
kids anymore
it will not provide them success in the
future and we need to have the guts to
implement massive revolutionary change
across the entire educational system our
team the Freehold Township School
District created a vision that all
students will be leaders of their own
learning and curious members of a global
society we studied successful
organizations and the type of people
that made them a success the common
traits we found people and leaders who
were creative and innovative strong
communicators and collaborators those
who are agile and could make quick
decisions those who embrace change in
ambiguity and those who are not afraid
to fail and we asked ourselves as a
district if those are the traits that
define success in the new economy
shouldn’t they be the skills we teach
our students and if they’re the skills
that we’re going to teach our students
shouldn’t we embrace them ourselves as
educators so we began with our
leadership team and we learned to
unlearn to question to take risks and
celebrate those traits in ourselves and
others building an innovators mindset
was key and spark the change across our
district
we had to think of ourselves and
actually become an agile startup in the
world of Education we set ambitious
goals an audacious goal like becoming
the best district in the world a goal to
being selected as one of the most
innovative districts in the country and
we even set a goal two years ago to give
it TEDx talk to share our story and I am
humbled to be here today representing
our district and from those goals
passion projects pilots and action plans
ignited from steam maker spaces to
flexible seating in classrooms to
students now setting their own goals and
leading their parents through a teacher
to parent-teacher conference our schools
our classroom our district transformed
in our schools students aren’t
necessarily bound to a homeroom they
have the flexibility to move on need and
interest our kindergarten students
design and create websites yes we have
five and six year olds making amazing
websites technology supports
communication and collaboration between
students teachers parents and the
outside world
we promote access we do not ban it we
have steam maker spaces where kids can
design build innovate iterate and solve
real-world problems
amazing awesome things are happening in
our district we hit our aspirational
goals there are other districts boldly
taking on similar work but so many more
not yet doing anything different at all
and schools can’t do it alone
we need help we need help from parents
we need help from community we need
support and permission to do things
differently this kind of change is hard
hard because it challenges an entire
system built on an outdated model hard
because it challenges generation old
perceptions about what kids should be
doing in school it makes it so scary to
make that leap the world embraces change
in fundamental areas from cell phones to
energy to driverless cars we must be
equally supportive and I would argue
more supportive and more demanding for
change in our schools and that change
means focusing on the skills that will
make our students successful in that
next century it means accepting the fact
that busy work does not promote learning
it means understanding one size does not
fit all
it means personalization for every
single student looking at every child as
unique as a cup of coffee schools can’t
be a rite of passage or something our
kids have to endure we can do better we
must act our students need the best now
as Maya Angelou said so well do the best
you can until you know better and once
you know better do better I think we all
know better it’s time to do better
old school does not work please join me
and let’s change what we do today
thank you
[Applause]
you
tiny little shoebox
do you remember trying to get those 3d
figures of animals in people and
characters to stand up does anyone
remember how much hot glue burns your
fingers and trying to keep that project
from falling apart on the school bus do
you remember having to memorize all the
names of the kings in the Tudor monarchy
do you remember any of that stuff we all
had to do it regardless of our unique
talents and passions education over the
years has been a one-size-fits-all
proposition hasn’t it tell me and hear
me out when you go to the dentist which
tooth do you get pulled now that seems
like a silly question because we all
know the decision or not to pull a tooth
depends entirely on what a patient needs
and the dentist must understand that
need before ever ever treating that
patient another question at Starbucks
and I see some of you have it do we all
order a regular coffee or do some order
a tall half skinny half 1% extra hot
split quad shot which is two shots decaf
two shots regular latte with whip you
may not go that far but I’m sure the
long lines in the morning are not
everyone ordering a regular americano we
all have our personal and individual
needs and sure the medical field has
recognizes for years and finally it’s
progressed to something as mundane as
even even ordering that cup of coffee
now let’s shift to education
as educators we work on brains and I
hope you all agree with me in life
brains are more important than teeth
common cure-alls are no longer valid
when it comes to education in today’s
world we have to ask ourselves how can
we shift shift from educating the masses
to educating individuals schools
educators parents they have to be
thoughtful and deliberate when it comes
to educating our children it has to be
relevant and personalized for every
single student one size fits all no
longer fits anyone but as an educator
for 25 years and a parent of two
incredible teenage daughters
I find the one-size-fits-all approach
permeating most schools so why does this
happen
why haven’t schools changed yet the
answer is deeply rooted into schools
past our schools were formed during the
Industrial Age with a major focus on
compliance and efficiency the goal was
to prepare students to work in factories
to sit for long periods of time and do
routine repetitive tasks with no
mistakes thus our school was developing
compliant workers and not inquisitive
thinkers and learners
that model was actually an effective
model even up late through the 20th
century we were supposed to be learning
diligence in compliance and not
necessarily mastering that the skills
taught and the kids they got through
school they got good jobs and typically
lived the quality life many of us here
are beneficiaries of that very system
that said many parents community members
educators believe that students should
have the same experience that they had
in school they see school as something
like a a rite of passage something to
simply endure because they themselves
had to endure it many believed school
was good enough for themselves it has to
be good enough for our kids and they
expect students to learn the way they
learned back at a time when compliance
repetition and memorization we’re the
critical skills needed those skills are
obsolete now and I have to admit as a
teacher I perpetuated the old model my
fifth grade lesson plans were filled
with dioramas and mobiles wanted posters
for characters in a book
silly spelling sentences and yes I even
assigned word searches none of these
activities none of them promoted reading
skills or literacy or demonstrated what
students knew about a topic and I have
to tell you as a student I hated I hated
those projects but as a teacher I felt
compelled to assign them because it’s
what I experienced in college in school
I didn’t even question the value
seriously since you have been out of
school how many of you have built a
diorama
and as a school leader I see this
everywhere I see AP students taking a
class period or more to color in a map
and actually get graded on the quality
of their coloring if they stayed in the
lines
I see middle school students to take a
week to design make and bake a cake
replicating the map of the United States
I am told that Florida is delicious none
of these projects foster geography
skills sure kids may learn how to bake
or may he learn how to color but is that
really the intent of a social studies
class no child ever said this worksheet
changed my life
the one-size-fits-all worksheet does not
promote learning for those students who
can do the worksheet there is very
minimal thinking and for those that
can’t it merely serves as a message you
can’t do this the worksheet and other
traditional practices that no longer
serve our students they just won’t go
away and we teach that way because it’s
easy to to teach the masses it’s easier
to teach everyone the same thing without
personalization without individuality we
teach this way because it was good
enough for us it was good enough at a
time when memorization and compliance
where the skills needed for the labor
force we all know though those skills
and those jobs are gone there are no
more repetitive routine jobs they’ve
been replaced by computers automation
artificial intelligence and technology
our new economy needs
thinkers and learners collaborators
creators and entrepreneurs and that
means we need a fundamental change in
what and how we are teaching our
students we and our schools do not need
to be creating labors or any laborers
anymore we need to be creating learners
students who can initiate and lead their
own learning
we need to collectively realize that the
old model is not good enough for our
kids anymore
it will not provide them success in the
future and we need to have the guts to
implement massive revolutionary change
across the entire educational system our
team the Freehold Township School
District created a vision that all
students will be leaders of their own
learning and curious members of a global
society we studied successful
organizations and the type of people
that made them a success the common
traits we found people and leaders who
were creative and innovative strong
communicators and collaborators those
who are agile and could make quick
decisions those who embrace change in
ambiguity and those who are not afraid
to fail and we asked ourselves as a
district if those are the traits that
define success in the new economy
shouldn’t they be the skills we teach
our students and if they’re the skills
that we’re going to teach our students
shouldn’t we embrace them ourselves as
educators so we began with our
leadership team and we learned to
unlearn to question to take risks and
celebrate those traits in ourselves and
others building an innovators mindset
was key and spark the change across our
district
we had to think of ourselves and
actually become an agile startup in the
world of Education we set ambitious
goals an audacious goal like becoming
the best district in the world a goal to
being selected as one of the most
innovative districts in the country and
we even set a goal two years ago to give
it TEDx talk to share our story and I am
humbled to be here today representing
our district and from those goals
passion projects pilots and action plans
ignited from steam maker spaces to
flexible seating in classrooms to
students now setting their own goals and
leading their parents through a teacher
to parent-teacher conference our schools
our classroom our district transformed
in our schools students aren’t
necessarily bound to a homeroom they
have the flexibility to move on need and
interest our kindergarten students
design and create websites yes we have
five and six year olds making amazing
websites technology supports
communication and collaboration between
students teachers parents and the
outside world
we promote access we do not ban it we
have steam maker spaces where kids can
design build innovate iterate and solve
real-world problems
amazing awesome things are happening in
our district we hit our aspirational
goals there are other districts boldly
taking on similar work but so many more
not yet doing anything different at all
and schools can’t do it alone
we need help we need help from parents
we need help from community we need
support and permission to do things
differently this kind of change is hard
hard because it challenges an entire
system built on an outdated model hard
because it challenges generation old
perceptions about what kids should be
doing in school it makes it so scary to
make that leap the world embraces change
in fundamental areas from cell phones to
energy to driverless cars we must be
equally supportive and I would argue
more supportive and more demanding for
change in our schools and that change
means focusing on the skills that will
make our students successful in that
next century it means accepting the fact
that busy work does not promote learning
it means understanding one size does not
fit all
it means personalization for every
single student looking at every child as
unique as a cup of coffee schools can’t
be a rite of passage or something our
kids have to endure we can do better we
must act our students need the best now
as Maya Angelou said so well do the best
you can until you know better and once
you know better do better I think we all
know better it’s time to do better
old school does not work please join me
and let’s change what we do today
thank you
[Applause]
you
Please follow and like us: