Forget "Plastics" - One Word: Glass

For those who don't know me personally may not know of my personal mission in education. My life goal is to constantly build and rebuild the global classroom - an interconnected digital classroom made of students from around the world who constructively work on projects facilitated by high-quality teachers. Thinking of stealing my idea? Awesome, go for it. The mission is so important, I believe, that the goal is to get it done. I'd love your help though, so please feel free to email me if you are interested: markwguay@gmail.com. 

I love the idea of telepresence and in light of what was discussed at this years World Economic Forum, world leaders also believe in the incredible benefit of such an amazing technology. Haven't seen it yet? Watch it here. 

Three potential telepresence scenarios:

Imagine an adolescent in front of a laptop linked with once-strangers from a distant land collaborating on a Prezi to create a class presentation on World War II. The classmates then go on to each present to their home-based classes. 

Imagine a NYC youngster staring into an iPad to chat with a lad from Ireland, both sharing their childhood stories. Then, collaborating to write a new one through cloud-based word processing (i.e. Google Documents) to share with siblings or younger children. 

Imagine a first-world student brushing his teeth in a faucet, showering, then driving to his first period class link with a third-world student who ran six miles to school. Both linked with a smart-mobile device and large screen.

Or imagine a world of glass:

In this video, Corning Glass in Corning, New York showcases how the digital interface of glass can transform our lives from waking up to a bright sunrise, to fixated learning in school, to even transforming nature hikes through the famous Redwood Forest to a prehistoric tramp with a near T-rex disaster. 

I've been to Corning as a child and stared transfixed on the molting, shifting colors of glass, always afraid I would step wrong and break something. Now, glass is stronger than ever with the ability to have a finger control it, even one of a toddler.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you think these new discoveries in Corning could enhance the design of school. Could this technology be so cheap one day to become a one-for-one type of program to link first to third world countries?  

Lesson Plan: The Life of a Salesman

There I was on a rainy and cold September day reading the last words of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman with my 12th grade students. Tears actually flowed down the face of a student with Aspergers and the class remarked how truly sad this story is. 

From that point on I realized that Willy and I share a lot in common. I don't sell out of a suitcase nor travel door-to-door, but as a teacher, I am what Daniel Pink calls the modern salesman. 

I sell lessons, I sell my clout as a teacher, and I must sell motivation. If my clients don't buy the product, it's a lose lose situation.

Daniel Pink writes in his latest book, To Sell is Human, that selling may be at the heart of most of our lives - that is, especially if you are on social media. 

Ideas, clout, and personas are at the heart of influencing others. Many people, I'll confess myself included, spend a great deal of time curating information about themselves to fit a social profile - professional or leisure - to paint the image they want others to see of them. We do this on a personal scale and we do this on a larger scale.

Such as Blake Mycoskie of TOMS and how he used a false Beverly Hills address to appear like a superstar in the shoe industry and catapult himself into Entrepreneurally fame. 

Or why Coursera.org's MOOCs quickly rose into stardom because it offers users FREE certificates with an Ivy-League logo to those that complete a course through such a university. 

So, how can education shift to meet the client's needs and provide an influx of sales? Is there a way to make education an easier sell to students? 

Will students line up eagerly at the check-out line waiting for their lesson?

What is School For?

Seth Godin  asked this question at a TEDxYouth event this past year and the response was overwhelming. The Youtube video, seen here,  evoked passionated educators, businesses, and the general public to address the question and the responses are overwhelming, which begs me to ask you, "What is School For"?

Godin explains that the structure of the school has been in place due to The Industrial Age. Students were pulled to school to get them to be good societal workers, and after graduation work at a factory. Because the factory owners didn't have enough workers and farmers scoffed at the idea of punching in and punching out, schools were formed. Hmmm. Wow. Talk about a punch to the system. 

Watch it here:

So, what are schools for? This blog is about finding out just that and finding out what experts in the field think needs to be done to make education the best it can be. Break down the structure, seems to be Godin's response. Emphasize learning through doing, and learning from failing. Stop staring at text books.

So, to transform education, where do we begin? And can we see the end?

I think of Daniel Pink and how he writes that we are moving into the Conceptual Age. To be successful, Pink states that people need to think of problems that haven't even yet come about. Schools need to prepare students to do what computers or machines can't, and do what can't be outsourced cheaper overseas. 

Or my buddy Einstein who said you can't solve problems with the same thinking used to create them.

Breaking Down The Structure

Schools are very factory-like: rows, bells, 5 minute breaks. So, how can we better use this space that creates a more student-centered environment, allows for a 21st Century focus, and still supervises children (for k-12) while parents are at work?

Tamra Excell of Personalized Education Group wonders if buildings were to act more as learning centers would students be more driven to excel. Students would enter the building and would use curriculum for the day based on the student and school's agreed-upon track. Then, they go to the location of choice which could be a science lab with a certified teacher as facilitator or a laptop linked to Khan Academy. 

Just take a quick look around and you can see this happening with Knewton, Coursera, Khan Academy, and other business ventures. 

What are your thoughts on this? Please remember to stay polite and respond within the domains of respectful discourse. We're all in this together.