What Is True Innovation in Education?

Are the teaching approaches we think of as innovative really innovative? Are students learning anything in our classes? What even is the purpose of school?

If questions like these energize or disturb you, you'll want to read what venture capitalist Ted Dintersmith has to say about his quest for answers to education's biggest problems. Every public school teacher and administrator ought to ponder, as Dintersmith did, whether students in America are learning anything that will truly prepare them for life in the real world.

In this article from The Washington Post, Dintersmith challenges several cherished notions about our schools that haven't been dusted off and reexamined in over a century. He also points out flaws in some "innovations" schools flock to now that are not truly innovative and are not truly growing kids' minds. One example? The flipped classroom.

Dintersmith writes, 'There’s lots of eduspeak chatter about “flipping the classroom” — kids watch boring lectures at home at night, and do low-level multiple-choice questions at school. Hardly a breakthrough. . . ." It's true that the ideal of the flipped classroom has students working in class on problems that require the teacher's assistance, not 'low-level multiple-choice questions,' but the point that none of this is truly innovation is valid. The flipped classroom does the same old thing in a not very different way.

So what is truly innovative education that really does prepare kids for the real world? The article explores approaches by several successful schools across the country.

According to Dintersmith, some 500 "Deeper Learning" schools are doing certain things right:

self-directed learning
a sense of purpose and authenticity in student experiences
trust in teachers to teach to their passions and expertise
a focus on essential skills (collaboration, communication, creativity, critical analysis)
teachers as coaches, mentors, and advisers, not as lecturers
lots of project-based challenges and learning
public display of meaningful student work

Do these objectives reflect your classroom teaching this week? Or is it all about that standardized test in April?

Read more about Dintersmith here and view a preview for his award-winning documentary, Most Likely To Succeed, which has been called the antithesis of Waiting For Superman. 'The film raises important questions,' Dintersmith says, 'but respects each school’s desire and ability to forge a creative path forward. I’m hoping to find change agents in schools, districts, and states across the country, and provide them with a powerful resource to help them have a positive impact on the futures of our children.'

An Example of the Believer

A lot of people don't understand the Christian teacher's choice to work in the public school environment. It's true that we often feel like a fish out of water. In the United States, where free speech is protected by the Constitution, we are government employees who have our speech restricted under certain circumstances. In fact, our students have more freedom of speech than their teachers. So how can the Christian teacher take any spiritual good from the work or believe she is doing any spiritual good in her workplace? I Timothy gives some perspective.

For one thing, we are examples of the believer wherever we go. My students know I am a Christian (in some cases because I have told them). I don't have to say anything more for them to watch my behaviors and attribute them to my belief system. This is also true if a teacher tells her students, "I am a liberal" or "I am a Mormon" or "I support Hillary Clinton for president." Immediately, students think, "She doesn't drink coffee because she's a Mormon," or "She wouldn't like my mom because my mom is going to vote Republican." Students make connections without our encouragement. That's why it's so important to have pure motives, to keep an open mind, to be humble, and to follow the law, no matter how you identify yourself. You're an authority figure in their little world, and you do not have the right to take advantage of that position.

So where does that leave me as a self-identified Christian in the public school? Very vulnerable. If students perceive me to be grouchy, disrespectful, lazy, unprepared, or any other negative descriptor while on the job, there is a high risk that it will all be chalked up to my being a typical Christian. Is that fair? Is that negative trait of mine a "typical Christian" behavior? Maybe not. But then, maybe I'm the only Christian they know.

When you think about it that way, you as a Christian teacher in the public school have a powerful platform, even if you never say a word. If you are up for the challenge, you have the opportunity to identify for students through your conduct what it means to be a believer.

The book of I Timothy and several other passages in Paul's letters indicate that Christians in contact with unbelievers should work harder, love more genuinely, give more generously, and abase our pride more readily than those around us. It's hard to do in the best of circumstances, when our lesson plans are finished and our desks are clear. We must learn to follow Christ's example for us even when the going gets tough. Parents will be angry over their children's grades, coworkers will be jealous or gossipy, and students will sometimes make huge withdrawals on your emotional strength. This is when the example of a believer must be especially clear. This is how I behave when life is brutal. This is a Christian on the job.

It's only through Christ's strength that we can live up to this high standard of behavior, and we will sometimes fail. Let's keep humble and keep connected to the Vine.

Read this article from the Washington Post on teachers who share their faith within the bounds of the law. Thanks for a close examination of this important topic, Emma Brown!

Sadie Robertson Scripture Shareables