As a result, even though teachers were struggling with low student engagement for most of the 20th century, they were taking tighter and tighter control over the three traditional pillars of pedagogy. Similarly, even though learners can now own their learning, their schools are still teaching them to wait and to let those long-standing pillars support their learning instead.
Now these three pillars are crumbling. Twenty-first century connectivity empowers students to organize their learning in ways that mirror their experiences outside school. As the old pillars crumble, we have an unparalleled opportunity to rethink our pedagogy and build new pillars to replace them. We get to surrender the tight control that’s been the hallmark of traditional pedagogy and instead empower learners to design their instruction, curate their own curriculum, and gather feedback to assess their development.
Contrary to what many might think, this change doesn’t diminish teachers’ value. In fact, it enhances it. Although our students have some of the skills they need to own their learning, they can deepen and expand those skills working alongside their teachers. Yet, as teachers, we can provide this expertise only if we personally know how to use technology to design, curate, and gather feedback for our own learning.
About This Book
As we move forward in this book, I want to focus on the three new pillars of pedagogy. The first takes us from instruction to design, the second from curriculum to curation, and the third from assessment to feedback. Chapter 1 outlines why we need to change pedagogy. Chapters 2–4 will discuss each change at length, drawing on real-world examples and relevant stories. Each of these three chapters consists of five sections.
1. An introduction that provides context for the traditional teaching pillar
2. A comparison that illustrates the need to switch from the traditional pillar to its innovation (for instance, “Transition From Assessment to Feedback”)
3. A compelling story of what the new pillar looks like in action
4. Recommendations for ways to use the new pillar, along with guided discussion questions to support learning
5. Recommendations detailing how we can help students use the new pillar, including guided reflection questions to ask ourselves
Following that, chapter 5 discusses the importance of iteration and failing fast as strategies for scaffolding this kind of learning for ourselves and our students.
Each chapter is written to serve as a resource for reflection and discussion among educators. Schools, districts, service agencies, colleges of education, state departments of education, and organizations may find this book helpful. The New Pillars of Modern Teaching is intended to meet the needs of diverse sets of teams, such as leadership teams, academic departments, professional learning communities (PLCs), parent groups, instructional coaches, administrative groups, university classes, and more. (Visit go.solution-tree.com to access live links for the websites mentioned in this book.)
Who’s ready for new pedagogies?
Chapter 1
Why We Need to Change Pedagogy
There are certain students who bring out the best in us as teachers. Often they’re the ones who show so little interest in what we’re teaching that they challenge us to make it relevant to them. For me, Ellie was that student. Each day she’d arrive early and pepper me with facts about the U.S. Civil War. She loved history. The challenge, as I saw it, was that I taught physics. That’s why, as I read her handwritten letter of thanks a decade later, I was so touched by what she wrote that, five lines in, I had tears in my eyes.
Her letter said that she’d been rethinking her life and career. Her love of American history prompted her to start a graduate program to earn her teaching certificate in high school history. She shared that I’d played a role in that decision, saying that she wanted to emulate my passion, my patience, and my hands-on approach. I was deeply touched by her words and excited to hear her so engaged. Yet strangely, part of me was also sad. That part was wondering why it took Ellie nearly a decade to pursue a passion that her teachers saw in her all the time.
I tell that story because it speaks so well to why many of us become teachers in the first place. First, we want to empower learners to reach their full potential. Second, we take joy in the privilege of being part of the process. Researchers’ conversations with teachers confirm it. We want to share in our students’ successes and challenges (Joyce & Weil, 2008). We want to encourage students’ growth, direction, and purpose (Murphy, 2006), and we also want to play a role in students’ becoming thoughtful, engaged citizens (Nieto, 2005). That’s how I felt when I read Ellie’s letter—that teaching is about more than test performance. It’s about the kind of learning that empowers students to reach their potential, in and beyond school.
Challenges of Engagement
If a big part of why we teach is to help learners reach their full potential, then we may be disappointed to learn that we’re falling short of our goal. The thing is, Ellie’s initial dissatisfaction with her work isn’t that unusual, but her shift into more engaging work is. The majority of our graduates are deeply disengaged with their work, and they tend to stay that way, as evidenced by findings from Gallup’s (2013) report State of the American Workplace. Gallup, a research-based, global analytics company, has been gathering these data every two years since 2000. It defines engaged employees as those “involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work” (Gallup, 2013, p. 12).
The Gallup (2013) figures are disheartening, to say the least: findings show that 70 percent of U.S. workers fall into the categories of “not engaged” and “actively disengaged;” furthermore, most “are emotionally disconnected from their workplaces” (p. 12). Even more disturbing is the fact that, since Gallup (2013) began gathering these data, the numbers remain relatively unchanged, with “actively disengaged” workers costing companies “between $450 billion to $550 billion each year in lost productivity,” as they are “more likely to steal from their companies, negatively influence their coworkers, miss workdays, and drive customers away” (pp. 12–13).
Now you may be thinking, “We’re not CEOs. We’re educators.” Yet for us, these numbers represent former students. These are our young people who’ve reached adulthood but not their potential.
As educators, most of us want a different kind of life for our students, the kind that Gallup describes for engaged employees. They’re the ones driving innovation and growth. They’re the ones who “build new products and services, generate new ideas, create new customers” (Gallup, 2013, p. 13). Equally important, long-term engagement has an impact on our former students’ mental and physical health and well-being. If one reason that we teach is so that students can find their path, then we have to admit we’re not having the impact we’d hoped.
Daniel Pink (2009), best-selling author of Drive, recognizes three environmental factors researchers point to, again and again, as the keys to employee engagement: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In short, students who are most engaged postgraduation operate in environments where they’re in charge of their own lives (autonomy), they learn and create new things (mastery), and they contribute something positive to the world (purpose). In contrast, our less engaged graduates operate in environments of control, management,
