Book Club — Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing our Kids for the Innovation Era
Discussion Guide for Week 2 — Millennial Interview: Jamie through Chapter 4
We had the opportunity to catch up with Rachel Wolfe, the high school student (now a Sophomore in college) mentioned in Most Likely to Succeed’s chapter on the purpose of education. While still in high school, Rachel made a documentary, Losing Ourselves, about the loss of curiosity, intrinsic motivation and engagement that occurs for too many students as they progress through our education system. We asked her to tell us a little bit more about her journey leading to the documentary and beyond — how and when did she become aware that the way she was experiencing high school, as a mere gateway to college, was sapping her joy of learning; and how did she reframe her remaining years of school to reconnect with the passion, curiosity, and creativity that permeated her elementary school years? Check out her insights and reflections in her wonderful article — How Two Teachers Enabled Me to Rediscover My Intellectual Curiosity.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: THIS TUESDAY (OCTOBER 13th) — BOOK CLUB TWEET UP & MEET UP
We’re hosting a Book Club Tweet up this upcoming Tuesday (the 13th). It will start at 4:00 p.m. PT / 7:00 p.m. ET.
Join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtags #SparkingCuriosity and #MLTS.
If you’re in the NYC area, join a meet up with Lisa Yokana at 4:30 PM at Scarsdale High School.
And if you’re in Sault Ste Marie, join Mark Carlucci at 7pm at the Upper Deck (Canadian), 410 Pim St.
Make the Tweet up even more social by gathering friends and colleagues to discuss the book at an in person meet up. Download our facilitator’s guide for tips on how to organize and promote your event.
THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS
(Q1) QUESTION 1
In the Millennial Interview, the interviewee, Jamie, shares that after years of believing that,“[college] was part of what made you successful as a person,” he no longer believes in a single definition of success nor in a single linear path to its attainment.
We wonder, how do you define success? Do you feel you are achieving your version of success? If so, what was the path that got you where you wanted to be? If not, what obstacles might be preventing you from achieving your success?
(Q2) QUESTION 2
A central tension of our current education system, which is scrutinized in the book, is between the pull for content coverage and the need to cultivate twenty-first century skills such as curiosity, creativity and collaboration. A core issue in trying to navigate this tension is the difficulty of testing in a standardized way the skills that we need today.
How might we move beyond measuring the measurable, which is too often irrelevant, and design new ways to assess and give feedback on skills and aptitudes that might not be easily measured but are so important to thriving in today’s world?
(Q3) QUESTION 3
Related to the question above, what are the core essential skills that we should be teaching across disciplines? In other words, if we don’t have to focus primarily on teaching content anymore since it is so ubiquitously available at the touch of a button, what then is our purpose? What should we be teaching?
(Q4) QUESTION 4
Our current model of education often leaves us in discipline silos, sometimes even shut in our own classrooms and separate from those around us, never really doing interdisciplinary teaching. How might we break out of these rigid streams and help our students learn to tackle the interdisciplinary nature of the innovation era and its challenges?
PARTICIPATE
Join in the conversation by sharing your insights, favorite quotes, and responses to the discussion questions directly in the comments 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 comment 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.
Still unclear about how this works? Check out this short tutorial video created by Mark Carlucci:
NEXT WEEK
For next week, we’ll be reading Chapter 5 through Millennial Interview: Rebecca (pages 145–190). Check in on Thursday for our next set of questions.
NEED HELP?
If you have questions or want help getting started reach out to us on Twitter at @lyokana59, @markcarlucci and @ecf29. We’re the moderators and we can’t wait to dig in!
