How You Can Avoid the 3 Biggest Mistakes I've Made Over 20 Years in Education

What Thinking "Out of the Box" Looks Like

It's going to sound cliche, but after 20 years in education, I have literally heard it all before.

The endless litany of complaints teachers and school leaders have about why students struggle in school, and why teachers are burnt out and why kids pay less attention. The only fact that no one seems to mention is -- people have been complaining about these issues since public school was invented, in the mid 1800s.

Here's are the biggest mistakes I've made over the last 20 years:

Mistake #1 -- I argue with people

Avoid doing this at all costs. There is no point to arguing - EVER! No one wins. For some reason, I am perfectly able to follow this rule with kids and students, but when it comes to adults, teachers, and other administrators -- I'm putting on my boxing gloves and ready for a verbal spar. "I can't for the life of me figure that one out."

Mistake #2 -- I get upset when teachers rationalize their emotions

It's called cognitive dissonance. As the observer, I am well aware that when a human being tries to rationalize their feelings -- it's just comical. Every single human being has emotions, we feel, that's what makes us human. We don't need to justify or rationalize WHY we feel something, but the "Educational System" has screwed teachers over so many times, that when a teacher "feels" something -- they are sincerely on the defensive. I need to somehow get myself out of the situation - "I'm still not sure how, but I need to just walk away."

Mistake #3 -- I assume because I'm excited about a NEW idea - that other people will be as well.

I can't begin to tell you how many times this happens. And it happens often because I like to fix problems. In my school program, the overwhelming majority of my students were underserved and underprivileged. Most were African-American and Hispanic students as well, and they also had severe disabilities, ranging from ASD to Neurological impairment. All of my students came from public, charter and elite private schools. What I was told about the students by "experts" in their school and some in the field of education and psychology - is that "these" students were anomalies. They could not learn in the "model" they had developed and structured in those schools.

I'm going to get a little policy wonky here for a second, but the law I.D.E.A. (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975) states that a child must be educated in the Least Restrictive Environment and that the LEA (local educational agency) must find an appropriate educational setting. What the public, charter and private schools have decided to do is instead of "Innovating" a better school model - they gave up - and said "Let's let education specialists" handle the most severe case studies of students.

I guess I'm an "education specialist". Who knew?

I digress. I come up with new theories and ideas practically every month. One such theory is a 22nd Century Learning Model - with a new approach, new learning chart, and new lesson format. Since we are legally mandated and forced to still use the OLD and OUTDATED 19th Century Curriculum -- well, this theory can shove crappy INFO in and still make it SHINE!

If you watch the video tutorial above, you will see that I do not use the K-W-L chart at all. It's useless in a modern and upgraded learning model. The reason is that K-W-L is 100% focused on the "WHAT" of learning.

Imagine you are with your friends, and they are telling you a story about "WHAT" happened to five OTHER people, who you don't know and you don't care about. After 60 seconds, you are itching to tell your friend to "shut up!" Why is that? Because a story about people you don't know and don't care about - is IRRELEVANT to you.

The genius of celebrities and fame is that somehow the "public" was fooled into caring about people we don't know. We care about them for an odd reason too, because if you were in trouble, not one of the accounts you follow on IG or Twitter would reach out and ask if you needed help.

But how do we teach content in school? Think about how we teach Social Studies and American History. Kids are learning about people they don't know, don't care about and for a lot of young African-American and Hispanic kids-- people who don't even share the same background or experience. But let's extrapolate out even more. Let's look at Math and Science. Math teachers get all jazzed up about teaching "order of operations" or "multiplication tables" right? If you know a math teacher, you know what I'm talking about.

To a kid, multiplication tables and order of operations is a CHORE! It's irrelevant to their life. This is the inherent problem with the 19th Century Model. The only reason it worked back in the 1800s was because (And don't quote me on this) but I think you were allowed to BEAT children?? Like corporal punishment wasn't outlawed yet. So, when teachers say that kids are more destructive and misbehaved -- I have to question that perception. Why would corporal punishment have been "necessary" if kids were so well behaved 200 years ago?

I digress.

If you watched the video tutorial you will see that I talk about 3 Questions and 3 C's.

Here is the New Learning Chart for the 22nd Century.

Notice how we are not focused on "WHAT" kids will learn?

The answer behind that is because, "who cares?"

In the 22nd Century, and yes I'm aware that I'm jumping ahead (but shouldn't we be 100 years ahead of the curve, instead of 200 years behind it), if a kid forgets a piece of information such as the date of the Declaration of Independence, they can look it up on the internet in 3.2 seconds. Knowing "WHAT" happened is irrelevant!

Notice what the first question is, "Why I Need to Know?"

Think about it -- what's the number one question students ask in class. Yes, you guessed, "Why Do I Need to Know This?" Unfortunately, teachers have been ignoring this salient question for the last 100 years. The problem is that it's the only question that students should be asking.

And when teachers say "there are no dumb questions," but ignore the single MOST amazing question a kid could ever ask -- don't be surprised why students do not want to respect you any longer.

I use an example in the video tutorial. I am teaching about the 19th Amendment and again, it's not important who the women in the suffrage movement were, that they had a convention in Upstate NY and that there were speeches and marches. What is important is "Why Do Kids Need to Know the 19th Amendment?" And the answer is simple - because our Democracy, unlike any other government in the world is CHANGEABLE by the people. The suffrage movement changed the Constitution of the United States. If that is not one of the most "INCREDIBLE" feats of human social history, then I don't know what is. And I make the further point that this "change" occurred in the 20th Century, so what can we change in the 21st Century?

I will close on this point. Our horrible educational system has created a false reality for us as citizens. Because we haven't learned how malleable our government is and how "the people" can change things dramatically if they so choose - we sincerely believe that we have to do what our elected officials say and we have to listen to "what" they think.

The facts are that every single person in Washington D.C. and in our local Statehouses are one election away from being unemployed. When they talk about helping people, they don't care about helping people, because governments that are stagnant always become a "ruling class v. the people" And it has nothing to do with capitalism and communism, or fascism or dictatorships. It's just being human. When a human being gets "too comfortable" they cease to create and innovate.

I wish everyone a great New Years! Please stay safe in 2021 and hopefully we can start to collaborate, and work together to solve our common problems.