Have you heard of Moonshot Thinking?
As I was reading other blogs, I was intrigued by this "moonshot thinking" idea and checked it out on YouTube. You can view it by clicking here: Moonshot Thinking. It was inspiring to hear JFK's voice again as he talked about going to the moon...not because it was easy but because it was hard and no one knew how to do it...yet!
Long before Carol Dweck defined the growth mind-set thinking in her popular book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, human beings have been exploring, creating, innovating, seeking challenges, designing, taking risks, failing, recovering, and viewing their life's work from a different perspective. Just think about Steve Jobs and how his growth mind-set transformed the way we access, store, and organize knowledge--and, not the least of which was the way he altered the way we communicate by reinventing the mobile phone.
I love thinking outside of the box and am committed to encouraging educators and students to do the same. Yet, my practical nature reminds me that we landed on the moon not because the knowledge wasn't there, but because scientists, engineers, and innovators needed a vision, a motivation, and a renewed focus.
So, how does this relate to education? As teachers and administrators head back to school for just a brief three weeks before we have another holiday break, what might inspire us and empower us to make a difference in the lives of our students?
Let me suggest that you check out what's happening in Manor, Texas. Edutopia selected Manor New Technology High School as a School That Works because it has successfully implemented Project-Based Learning (PBL) into its school culture, curriculum, and assessment practices. When you watch its Project-Based Learning: Start to Finish video and read its Step-by-Step Guide, you may conclude that many of these ideas and strategies have been circulating for quite some time: standards, rubrics, peer feedback, entry events, relationships before rigor and relevance, posing a moral dilemma, and multi-media student presentations.
Yo-Yo Ma had this to say about innovation: But an innovation, to grow organically from within, has to be based on an intact tradition, and so our idea is to bring together musicians who represent all these traditions, in workshops, festivals, and concerts, to see how we can connect with each other in music.
We walked on the moon because there was a collective vision and a focus on using knowledge creatively. Can we do the same in our classrooms and schools? Food for thought.
A blog authored by Beth Schultz, a Maine Educator, working to inspire a mindset of empowered leadership.
Hi Beth,
ReplyDeleteI recently took a Buck Institute for Education PBL training which left me with a nearly completed project. I finished it and implemented it with a group of Spanish 3 students.
The students were given the following scenario: you're traveling in Mexico or Spain and wake up in the hospital; what happened to you? How were you treated? How did you get home?
The students' final products included a from memory or note-cards presentation in Spanish with accompanying slideshow. The presentation answered the driving question. Each student also translated (in real time) another student's presentation in front of an audience. The audience included a Spanish 2 class, our Spanish exchange student, and another teacher. Sadly, our Assistant Principal couldn't attend.
During the project students learned 200+ Spanish vocabulary, did dialogues, and learned grammar elements related to the topic. Students also were required to investigate the condition that landed them in the hospital, research the structure of the foreign medical system (and compare it to the US), create a model of the foreign medical system, write a summary of the model, write an English narrative that answers the driving question, and write a Spanish narrative that answers the driving question. Students Skype chatted with informants in Spain (in Spanish) and Mexico (in English).
I thought the project was a big success, though the students felt I gave them too much time and preferred more traditional drill/kill learning.
If you're interested in any of the planning documents or final products, please let me know. My website has many of the documents (espanolalarrocero.weebly.com).
I'm hoping to develop another project this summer.
Best,
Tom