Education of the future starts with you now

I want to take a minute to address all the future educators out there because I have a very important assignment for you: make a list.

Yes. A list. Not of all the things you wish you could be doing right now or the fun things you'll do when social distancing and "safer at home" orders expire. Although those lists might be nice, I need you to make this list because the future of education needs your list. 

The next generation who will know nothing of this strange time you are living through will benefit from the time you put in now. Does it seem weird to think about some future children caring about what you say? It shouldn't because as an educator you will shape the future by nurturing the next generation. 

So let's talk about this list you are going to make not for yourself, but for all. Your list is about how you'd like to be learning right now. It's about things that are working well and things that really are not. Your list must include feelings about homework, reading, watching, emailing, and video conferencing. Include thoughts about adapting a document to make it work, participating in a video conference, recording a video of yourself to turn in for homework and just quietly reading a book on your own.

Include in this list the ways your curiosity is being lit up like a light bulb and the ways it is being dimmed by anxiety, irrelevant work, and frustration.

Include in this list all of the ways learning from home COULD really work for you if you had to keep going like this. How does flexibility in deadlines help you to manage? How does sleeping later in the day and working on subjects when your energy level is best suited for that work feel?

Ask yourself how it feels to get a snack when you need it or take a walk when you need an energy boost rather than following a bell schedule and sitting most of the day.

In your list you must include how you feel about not having time to collaborate with peers or how relieved you are to be able to focus without the distraction of your peers. 

Add to your list the ways you wish your teachers could offer opportunities and challenges for you to dig deeper but also add to your list when the work is too challenging and you have greater priorities such as your well being, mental health, or family.

Take a look around you at the spaces where you are finding yourself most productive and add those to your list. Think about the spaces where you were most productive in your school and think about why you miss those spaces now. 

This is the challenging part - now think about ways that many of the items on your list don't work for some of your classmates. Allow yourself to wonder how they are faring without the support, the structure and the safety of school. If you see yourself being left behind because you don't have support your list is so incredibly important because your story needs to be heard.

If school was your safe haven, please add details about that to your list. If it's the people at school who looked out for you, listened to you and cared for you, add them to your list.

I think by now you get the idea so let's think about what you're going to do with this list. What you now have is a list of how to revolutionize education. You have a list of possibilities and questions that must be asked.
We need your list because in this time of seclusion and isolation we are exploring opportunities. We don't have to return to business as usual. If our goal right now is  every child feeling actualized as a self-directed, curious, engaged learner who can explore and investigate in a variety of spaces and circumstances, we have to start building the infrastructure to make this possibility a reality for each child.

This is a road map that will guide you as a future leader because in your role as an educator you will change the world. 
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During this crisis the enormous inequities in our country are coming to light. Although the spotlight is bright and the pain of inequality is real, true change is always slow and we need you to be the voice that carries forward the transformation that we, your teachers in 2020 pledge to begin. We're already standing up for kids who don't have food and shelter, don't have access and aren't being served because if education isn't working for any one then it isn't public education for all.

So make your list and keep it safe. When you're ready to get started on changing the world, I'm here to help.

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash