Let's Change This Thing Called "Teaching"

First a confession.  I’m as guilty as the next professor standing in front of a group of teachers, lecturing them on what they should be doing to become a better teacher.  Decades ago, I delivered these “sermons” from sheets of paper, lecture notes scrawled on 5X8 notecards, on overhead transparencies, or some other comparable format.  Within the last decade, I’ve sometimes used PowerPoint presentations.  (PowerPointless?) Today, when I walk by the open door of one of our School of Education classrooms, I’m more apt to see a PowerPoint presentation on the screen in front of the classroom.  Since reading the biography of Steve Jobs, I’ll never be able to see a PowerPoint presentation without thinking about how he used to go ballistic every time someone tried to use a PowerPoint presentation to convince him of some point.  He used to cry out “Stop this shit” or something equally as offensive.  His point was that presentations should be so polished the presenter shouldn’t have to rely on PowerPoint slides to make his/her point.  (Job’s favorite tool was a white write-on board.)  So, I would like to propose a series of “What if…” scenarios.

What if…you could deliver no more than 25% of your instructional presentations to the use of PowerPoint or some other comparable program (Apple users…that’s Keynote)? 

What if…25% of your candidates’ learning was to take place out of the conventional college classroom?  Students would need to listen to podcasts, iTunes U presentations, YouTube, or some other technology delivered medium.

What if…25% of your class time was spent posing questions to candidates? Candidates would be required to use laptops, iPads, smartphones, etc. to gain information to help them answer the questions you posed?  Teams of students would assemble to discuss what they found for answers.  Then, a whole-group share would occur.  The professor would serve as a moderator and role model for the candidates.

What if…the leadership of the School of Education had a pot of money to support faculty who were interested in building such a learning community?

What if…every faculty member had to redo his/her course outlines every two years?  I’m not talking about simply changing the meeting dates and/or times but substantially redoing the content of the course, attempting to integrate some of the ideas presented earlier in this piece.

What if…there was a group of faculty members who were off-loaded to help faculty members designed courses based on the above principles?

What if…there was a School of Education retreat every year where selected faculty members could share what they’ve done to integrate new learning strategies in their courses?

What if…the union supported this effort instead of kowtowing to some disgruntled faculty member(s) who felt they were being unfairly treated or persecuted?

What if...this effort was linked in some way, some fashion, to the Teach for America or State Department of Education initiatives?

What if…?