After reading George Couros’s blog On the “Real World”, which includes an amazing excerpt from an Alice Keeler post from 2015, I felt inspired. Alice sheds a new light on the ‘real world’ argument often given to or by teachers. George says that “you can use the ‘real world’ as an argument, but not an excuse.” I am going to go one step further here, and say we should use the Real Ideal World as the agent for change.

I am a teacher because I want our students to create a better world, what better way to create a better world than to teach them for that better world. I hope to do this activity with our faculty someday soon, but I’m going to try it here. The two questions I will ask myself – What world do you want your students to live in? How will you teach to prepare them for that world?

What world do I want my students to live in?

I want my students to live in a world where they…

• know their passions and pursue them
• have a job that helps others
• recognize the connections between their work and its impact on the world
• are connected to their community and the world
• are kind to those around them
• know how to find information and view it critically
• work with their hands
• care about the environment and are stewards of the earth
• use technology meaningfully
• make time for art – singing, dance, painting, sculpture
• are active citizens – especially in local communities and government
• to take responsibility for their mistakes and then improve from them

How will I teach to prepare students for this ideal world?

I will:

• teach them to read critically and for fun; give students choice in their reading and challenge them to question it, to dig deeper into its meaning
• give them time to create something everyday with their hands
• connect our learning to the local community – the good and the bad
• provide time for students to pursue their passions
• encourage and reward kindness every day
• allow students to explore technology, to practice using social media
• learn how our community is connected to the world afar
• apply math to everyday life; to find and recognize patterns around them
• give open-ended learning opportunities that allow students to make mistakes and learn from them

My biggest challenge was keeping these lists as short as they are now. If I used these lists, what would my teaching look like tomorrow (Literally, tomorrow)? I wonder what would happen if a school asked the same questions, developed a shared set of goals and focused their teaching on these outcomes. How would our teaching change? How would learning change? How would our world change?