Two years ago, I was sitting in a circle of chairs with fellow 4th and 5th grade story tellers at a Montessori school in Boulder, CO. I told them the beginning of a story about Rotten Tots the homeless man who was looking for place to live, and then I had each student give an example of what could happen next to Mr. Tots in the story. Their continuations were typical. However, half way around the circle, a 4th grader, let’s call him Mark, had decided that sitting with his head hanging from the chair and his feet up in the air would help him think better. Seeing this as an opportunity to be “innovators”, all the story tellers reversed their direction of sitting, including myself. I commented, “This is it! We can look at a story one way, but looking at it in a different way can be even more exciting!” The learners laughed and thought of incredibly creative examples to continue the story with their head on the ground.

Now, I’m going to tell this story again from a Teach for Americaesque approach according to what I’ve learned through training this week.

Two years ago, I was sitting in a circle of desks with the class of 2016 in an elementary school in Denver, CO (the year indicates the year they will graduate college). I wanted to teach them about brainstorming. I wrote the word “present” on a timeline and drew three different arrows branching from the line to indicate three different paths for the future. I wrote down three things I could be doing at the same time next year: living in Jamaica, playing the piano, or teaching. This was the “I do” part of the lesson. Then, I asked a student, let’s call him Mark, “where do you want to be in one year?” He excitedly answered, “I want to be in 5th grade after passing the state writing test.” This was the “we do” part of the lesson. I gave him a HollaDollar for participating. Afterward, I allowed each student to finish their their own webs, the “you do” part of the lesson plan. As they left class, they had homework to brainstorm three different professions they would want to work in, which would allow me to know more about the students and know whether or not they understand brainstorming.

What a difference!? To only imagine what students learned in each lesson! I’m a Dewyist, discovery-man at heart, but I’m very interested in seeing how Teach for America changes how I think about education.