Book Club — Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing our Kids for the Innovation Era
Discussion Guide for Week 4— Chapters 6 & 7
This is our final discussion guide for Most Likely to Succeed. It has been such a wonderful and interesting experience to experiment with the first iteration of our Book Club. Thank you for joining us on this journey and sharing your thoughts and insights with us. We are so excited to keep refining this experience as a community. Join us at the beginning of November for our second edition of the Book Club — stay tuned, we will announce our selection for November’s book shortly.
THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS
(Q1) QUESTION 1
On the very last page of Chapter 6, (page 220), Ted and Tony provide five strategies for teachers who want to improve their practice. We’d like to challenge you to step out of your comfort zone, try one of them, and then report back on your experience.
- What did you try?
- How did it go?
- How did it feel?
- How would you build on this strategy?
(Q2) QUESTION 2
The authors claim,
“We believe teacher effectiveness should be assessed in the same way that students’ work should be evaluated, on the basis of digital portfolios. These portfolios should contain videotapes of lessons, examples of the work their students have produced in the class, and videotaped focus groups with students where they’d talk about how they had been engaged as learners. Teacher effectiveness can be assessed according to the evidence of improvement in students’ work between September and June. Most teachers we know would eagerly embrace this tailored form of accountability.” (pg. 232)
Do you agree or disagree? What are the pros and cons of a digital portfolio approach to evaluation?
(Q3) QUESTION 3
In chapter 6, Tony and Ted make the following claim about the shifting role of education:
“The role of education is no longer to teach content but to help our children learn — in a world that rewards the innovative and punishes the formulaic.” (pg. 197)
Again, we’d like to know if you agree or disagree with this statement? Also, how might we help our students become lifelong learners?
PARTICIPATE
Join the conversation by sharing your insights, favorite quotes, and responses to the discussion questions directly in the response section below and on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtags #SparkCuriosity and #MLTS
- If you don’t already have one, create a Medium account
- Post a response to this discussion guide with your reflections; answers to the questions; your own questions or links to relevant articles videos and resources that relate to this week’s reading.
- To make it easier for other members to respond to your insights, if you’re answering a specific question from the discussion guide, please mark which ones (i.e. Q1) in the heading of your response.
- Browse other community member’s answers to these questions and respond to the ones that inspire you.
- Host a book club meet up in your area — download our facilitator’s guide for tips on how to organize and promote your event.
NEXT WEEK
10/27 UPDATE:
Unfortunately, we need to cancel tonight’s event at Riverdale Country School but check back for future meet ups soon and join us tomorrow for the live Google Hangout discussion!
NYC educators, come join Lisa and me on Tuesday 27th at 6:00 pm at the Riverdale Country School’s Hill Campus for an in person meet up and discussion. If you’re planning on attending, please sign up here.
Can’t make the in person meet up? Then join us for a live Google Hangout discussion on Wednesday 28th at 4:00 p.m. Pacific / 7 p.m. Eastern. We will post a link to access the Hangout, shortly before it begins, on our Twitter feed.
NEED HELP?
If you have questions or want help getting started reach out to us on Twitter at @lyokana59, @markcarlucci and @ecf29.
