Note: This post may contain affiliate links where I receive advertising fees if you make a purchase. For more information, read this disclaimer.
Welcome to this month’s installment of the SpedSafari book club! Every month, we are reading and discussing a book that has the potential to level up our teaching and learning! Last month was the first installment, and I’m looking forward to hearing thoughts about this month’s book as well as sharing my own.
Our book for this month is Designed to Learn by Lindsay Portnoy, and what a book it is!
Every installment of the SpedSafari Book Club will cover:
The big picture- what’s it about, and why should we as professional educators care?
The nitty gritty- what rationale for changes in practice are there, in different educational environments?
The takeaway for tomorrow- what knowledge can we apply in our classrooms tomorrow?
The Big Picture
It’s test season! It’s everyone’s favorite time! It’s…I’m sorry, I couldn’t go any further with that bit. Test season is nobody’s favorite time.
I feel comfortable saying that educators didn’t get into teaching to help kids take and pass exams, but preparing for those activities takes up a disproportionate amount of time. However, the real question on the table is- how to best measure student learning? How do we make sure students are learning what they need to learn and can demonstrate it, not only now, but in the future, and in other relevant contexts as well?
At its heart, design thinking is a mindset and an approach to teaching that puts the function at the center of everything that goes on a classroom. I wrote a lot about the need for functional instruction in a different post (The Other F-Word) and won’t reiterate it here (definitely read that post though- just saying.) More to the point, design thinking, or the elements of design thinking as they are referred to throughout the book, is a way of stitching together all of the practices that in many cases are already present (or should be present) in classrooms but maybe lack a cohesive framework to hang it all on.
The Nitty Gritty
I’ll sat it at the outset- there is A LOT to unpack in this book. The author is straightforward in her presentation style and gives lots of real world, practical examples of how real teachers are implementing the elements of design thinking in classes around the country, but there is a lot to digest here. The most important thing though, at least from my perspective, is that it provides an accessible but research-based way to shift thinking about existing lessons and curricula without having to start from scratch. Ask different questions! Frame tasks differently! Give students the space to try new things and make mistakes, or just have things not work out! They’re all simple things that require no additional materials or resources but that totally change the presentation of the task.
Most importantly, design thinking puts people (and by extension, communities) back at the center of all the instructional planning. In order for students to feel safe making mistakes and suggesting new and innovative ways of solving real life problems, they have to have relationships with their teachers and their fellow students. Looking ahead to next school year, when many students will be returning to school buildings after over a year out of them, the opportunity and necessity for community are front and center.
Takeaway for Tomorrow
A really poignant quote, for me, was the one in the picture above- “teachers are the ultimate design thinkers.” True words, true words. This sentiment also provides the way forward for how to implement the most basic premise of design thinking in your classroom, tomorrow- what’s the why? Why are students learning this? Why is this important? Why would this knowledge make a student’s life or community better? Just by asking those questions, teachers can rethink and reframe how they are presenting content to students and what students are being asked to do with that information. From there, why not take one lesson, one unit, one segment of the whole school year, and approach it from a design thinking perspective? You don’t have to overhaul the whole thing at once, and the author doesn’t suggest you do so! Like so many things, the important thing is to start.
If you’re looking for a short, easy to read book that will challenge you to rethink the functionality of education but will leave you energized to try something new, I highly recommend Designed to Learn by Lindsay Portnoy.
Keep the Conversation Going!
What has been your experience with design thinking? How are you implementing functional, purpose-driven instruction in your classroom? What’s your favorite way to build community and relationships! Take it to the comments because I want to read all about it!
But wait, THERE’S MORE! Watch this space tomorrow, when the July book for SpedSafari Book Club will be announced! Yes, we’re going to keep the party going over the summer, so don’t miss it!
Comments