Designing Schools:

How Design Thinking Makes YOU Irreplaceable in the Age of AI

By Dr. Sabba Quidwai

Designing Schools

© 2024 by Sabba Quidwai

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means—electronic, photocopying, recording, or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. For more information regarding permission, contact the publisher at publishing@teachergoals.com. For bulk purchases go to www.teachergoals.com/bulk.

Published by TeacherGoals Publishing, LLC Beech Grove, IN

www.teachergoals.com

Cover Design by: Tricia Fuglestad

Interior Design by: Heather Brown

Edited by: Dr. John Wick, Ed.D. and Katie Gray

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024940002

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-959419-29-7

ASIN: B0D9HXHGH7

First Printing November 2024

Praise for Designing Schools

Sabba Quidwai’s Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in a World with AI is a game-changer for educators. At a time when AI is rapidly evolving, Sabba shows us how human creativity and problem-solving are more essential than ever. By focusing on the importance of prompting the human mind before the machine, she offers educators a clear path to not just stay relevant but to lead with confidence. Her insights remind us that schools have always played the key role in shaping our futures. This book will inspire readers to embrace their unique role in designing an education system where students and teachers remain at the center.

-Matthew Manos; Associate Dean and Associate Professor,
USC Iovine and Young Academy; Founder, verynice.

Sabba Quidwai’s debut book, Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in a World with AI, is an invaluable guide for educators and leaders passionate about shaping the future of education. In a world increasingly shaped by AI, Sabba highlights the human qualities, like empathy, trust, and adaptation make educators indispensable. Sabba’s engaging approach reminds us that design thinking is our human advantage, enabling us to transform challenges into opportunities. Sabba offers clear, practical strategies to help schools foster an innovative culture where creativity and technology thrive together. Sabba’s work demonstrates that learning is a lifelong journey, and with the right tools and mindset, educators can truly shape the future!

-Jennifer Womble; Chief Learning Officer, FETC, District Administration

Sabba Quidwai’s book is a lighthouse for educators navigating the AI era. It goes straight to practical strategies to highlight educators’ potential and redefine their roles. This is the book educators need to read to understand how to adopt a growth mindset and integrate AI into the future of everything they do.

-Conor Grennan; CEO, AI Mindset

Sabba Quidwai offers a timely and transformative guide for educators, inviting us to pause and reflect amidst the rapid changes shaping our world. Instead of merely going through the motions, Sabba provides a practical roadmap that reconnects us with our true purpose and passion as educators. By embracing design thinking principles, this book empowers us to take control of our journey, forge new paths, and foster a culture of collaboration. I not only feel optimistic about navigating the uncertainties ahead, but I’m also energized by the opportunity to equip my students and staff with the skills they need to thrive in the future.

-Neil Gupta, Ed.D.; Superintendent

Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in a World with AI by Sabba Quidwai is more than a book—it’s an invitation to reimagine education. Sabba challenges educators to not just learn AI but to rediscover what it means to be human in a rapidly changing world. By guiding us through four essential ‘Power Moves,’ this book empowers educators to create environments where learning thrives through exploration, empathy, and innovation. Sabba’s approach to making AI a partner rather than a replacement ensures that educators remain at the heart of education, leaving a lasting impact on students. This is a must-read for anyone ready to actively shape the future of teaching and learning.

-Thomas C. Murray; Director of Innovation,
Future Ready Schools; 2x Best-Selling Author

Dr. Sabba Quidwai’s ability to elevate the human element in the age of AI is truly remarkable. In Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in a World with AI, she demonstrates a clear understanding of the critical role educators play in shaping the future of teaching and learning. Sabba’s approach is rooted in practical insights, making complex ideas accessible and actionable. She connects with her audience on a personal level, offering guidance that inspires confidence in the power of design thinking. Schools reading this will feel empowered, knowing that their role in education is not just important, but irreplaceable. Sabba has quickly become one of the most trusted voices in education as leaders design new models of learning for students.

-David Richards, Ph.D.; Executive Director, Future of Learning Council

Build Better Habits with Your Trusted Companion

This book is designed to be more than just words on a page—it’s like having a thought partner beside you as you explore new ideas, reflect, and turn insights into meaningful action. The resources available will help make this journey a richer and more interactive experience.

On our companion website, you’ll find a collection of AI companions, extended members of the Designing Schools team—designed to help you whenever you need them. Think of them as trusted companions who are here to share ideas, reflect with you, and help you turn insights into real impact, ensuring you always feel supported throughout your journey.

We also understand that technology evolves at lightning speed, and our commitment to you is to keep these resources updated. As we learn and grow, so too will the support tools we provide, ensuring you always have access to the best and most current materials.

To top it off, I’ve included access to a free webinar designed to accompany the book—a place to engage deeper with the ideas, connect with others on the same journey, and hear more about how to apply these principles in your life. Just head to the link at the back of this book to get started.

Thank You

Looking around and seeing each other for who we are, we realize AI will never replace us. It will only allow us to be more of who we want to be.

I’m grateful to be surrounded by amazing humans. Here are a few:

To my d-ad

Who gave me the confidence to believe I could do anything and taught me how to be who you are? Every day, I see something I’ve learned just by watching you.

To my sister Sadia

For taking me on the afternoon tea that changed my life. This conversation reminded me of the importance of being human and impacting this world. “You were born to do so much more,” she said. The same is true for you, my reader.

To Nyma

You remind me daily what’s possible when we live knowing our skills, passion, and faith. I love watching who you are becoming and the influence you have on everyone around you.

To Hadiya

Never have I seen anyone display patience, perseverance, and compassion as I do in you.

You will always be the reason I believe nothing can replace a human.

To the late Bruce Baron

Thank you for allowing me to experience what it means to have that one educator who changed your life. Thank you for seeing me for me.

To Gully

For showing us the power of our imagination #iykyk

To Mudd and Zaheer

The brothers I never knew I needed whose endless encouragement and motivation brings me here today.

To my darlings Hamzah and Ayanah

Watching you grow up each day reminds me that we don’t need to teach you to be creative and curious. We need to design a world that preserves and nurtures who you are.

So let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Ann Kozma i

Introduction v

Act 1: Your Human Advantage 1

Chapter 1: The Deal That Expired 3

Chapter 2: The 5 Qualities of Irreplaceable Educators 11

Chapter 3: The Uninvited Guests 37

Chapter 4: The Call to Adventure 47

Chapter 5: Make Teaching the Best Job Ever 53

Act 2: Make Teaching the Best Job Ever Again 72

Chapter 6: Who Do You Want to Be 73

Chapter 7: The Unfulfilled Promise of Technology 79

Chapter 8: Are We Preparing Learners for 2029 or 1929 87

Chapter 9: How COVID Forced Change 109

Chapter 10: Design Thinking is Empathy 117

Chapter 11: The Factory is Closed 123

Chapter 12: Design as a Mindset 133

Act 3: Introduction to Design39 140

Chapter 13: Is There Another Way? 143

Chapter 14: Three Little Things–One Giant Impact 151

Chapter 15: Big and Slow Moving Systems 165

Chapter 16: This Isn’t New 173

Chapter 17: From Classroom to Creator: Beyond the Four Walls 181

Act 4: Leading Your Human and AI Team 186

Chapter 18: From Trust to Transformation 189

Chapter 19: The Treasure Below the Surface 195

Chapter 20: Educators as Learning Futurists 201

Chapter 21: From Tools to Teammates 209

Act 5: Building Cultures of Innovation 223

Chapter 22: Failure, Feedback. Knowledge. Power. 225

Chapter 23: Addressing Skepticism 231

Chapter 24: How Great Leaders Inspire a Shared Vision 239

Chapter 25: The Future is a Place We Create 253

Afterword 260

References 267

Foreword by Ann Kozma

Have you ever stood at a crossroad and contemplated how you wanted to proceed? You could step in a certain direction, anticipating one thing. You could head in the opposite direction and experience something completely different. How do you know what to do and which direction to go? Every time I have faced this exact predicament, there is always someone or something to influence how and why a decision gets made. Sometimes it’s a family member or a significant other. Perhaps it’s your faith. Maybe it is your community of people or that one teacher who made a lasting impact. It might be that one dear friend who thinks outside the box and challenges you to consider something outside your comfort zone. However the decision gets made, you take a step into the unknown and something beautiful begins to happen. You journey forward, you try something new, and you learn a whole lot about yourself in the process. My guess is that you have all been at this kind of crossroad before. I know I have. Contemplating decisions that will unlock all kinds of new possibilities can feel intimidating. Even though you might feel unsure about what is yet to come, you just know that it is time to take a step forward and begin moving in a direction that will bring you someplace completely new.

For me, my teaching and career journey has been full of a few leaps of faith and steps into the unknown. I had no idea what to do when my first interactive projector was plugged in and powered on but I knew that everything was going to change. In 2010, I wondered what could be when I first went one to one with my students and put an iPod Touch in their hands. Back then, I took steps that challenged me and caused me to rethink just what it meant to teach in an era of transformative possibilities. EdTech became a way of life in my classroom and empowered my students to think in new ways, create in new ways, and share, celebrate, and showcase learning in new ways. It empowered me to make learning more dynamic, more engaging, and certainly more fun. More-so, it transformed my teacher mindset and allowed me to think about future possibilities and how I could leverage technology to completely redefine my classroom. This shift in mindset sparked a whole new learning journey for me and allowed me to meet many folks who would help broaden my perspective and cause me to grow in ways I never even imagined.

But what role does community play in one’s transformation? What influence does a thought leader have in the decisions you face? Do you talk with friends and family about the myriad choices you face daily or just the big ones you know will have a significant impact on the direction you will go? If you’re like me, it’s a mix of everything and everyone–and the decisions you make are influenced by a great number of things. For the last decade, my community has played a significant role in my professional development. Friendships made through hashtag communities on social media have inspired and encouraged me. Virtual friendships have become friends in real life and have contributed to significant personal and professional growth. One of the dearest of these friends is the author of this book that you now hold in your hands.

Sabba and I go way back. I remember being inspired by her work when she was the Director of Innovation at USC Keck School of Medicine. I remember sitting next to her at one of our Apple Distinguished Educator Academy sessions in 2015 thinking how lucky I was to have such an innovative and inspiring contemporary that I could also call a friend. I recall coffee meet ups and sushi dinners and endless chats and messages on social media. I remember sitting and planning sessions together and standing up in front of packed conference rooms and presenting together about the power of storytelling. We did that session a few times at CUE when SnapchatEDU was a thing. I also remember a few times when big life moments were unfolding and we would meet up to discuss the possibilities of what could be if the path forward were to go in this direction or that direction. The insights and encouragement from a friend like Sabba have been reassuring and remarkable in those moments. In the last decade, our friendship has overlapped with such epic timing that big life events and career changes have been discussed via Insta voice memos, in Ubers, in perfect-timing kismet moments in the “ed3verse” and over even more delicious meals. Every chance I get, I tell Sabba that I’m one of her biggest fans. If she’s presenting at a conference that I am attending, I always try to listen from the front row. When she posts on Social, I make a habit of reading, watching, and listening to what she’s posting. When I have the privilege of interviewing folks, I ask her to be one of the voices I get to amplify. Basically, whenever she shares, I pay attention. She’s influenced me in countless ways for the past 10+ years. From her @AskMsQ timeline to her Insta Stories, if she posts about a tool, I want to try it. If she mentions a book, I want to read it. She is that friend who is pushing the boundaries of possibility.

It’s no surprise that as soon as Sabba started talking about artificial intelligence (AI), I started paying more and more attention to what she was saying. I am absolutely thrilled that her first book combines so many things that I know she is deeply passionate about. From her work with design thinking to designing cultures of innovation and cultures of empathy, Sabba is leading the way and challenging us all to consider how AI is empowering new possibilities, new horizons, and next steps in designing schools and shaping the future. In these pages, she shares her experiences, her expertise, and a whole lot of heart too.

Friends, we are all standing at a new crossroad. Collectively, we are looking at an AI-first future and asking questions about which direction we should go. The book you hold in your hands is full of profound insights, personal learning, and meaningful strategies to help you take steps forward and embrace the potential of AI to reshape education. I know Sabba’s words will inspire you to see new possibilities–within yourself and within the world–and remind you of the human advantage that you bring to every situation.

Ann Kozma
Education Community Manager, Educator Innovation Lead,
Tech TOSA, 1st Grade Teacher

Introduction
The Power of Choice: Who Do We Become in an AI World?

In an AI-driven world, we must ask ourselves: Who do you want to be?

We often stick to familiar paths in education, following routines and traditional roles without questioning them. The challenge is not only to understand AI but to rediscover our roles as humans—how we can make a difference, feel creative, and connect deeply with others.

This book is more than just a collection of ideas. It aims to be an experience. Through the strategies and perspectives I share, I invite you to join me on a journey. Let’s figure out together who you aspire to be in this rapidly changing world. It’s time to think about our roles, use our unique strengths, and plan our lives and work with purpose.

So, who do you want to be? What values and qualities do you want to be known for? When you think of yourself as an educator, do you see yourself primarily as someone who imparts knowledge or as someone who inspires and makes a lasting impact?

Today, we live in a world where machines can act and think like humans. What does this mean for us next? This question is at the heart of why we need to rethink who we want to be as educators. Being an educator today can often feel limiting, making you feel like just a transmitter of information, focused on delivering a standardized curriculum and meeting academic goals. But in this era of abundant information and accessible technology, our students and the world need us to go back to the heart of why we chose this profession. Now more than ever, educators need to be facilitators of learning experiences, not just providers of knowledge. This means creating environments that foster exploration, critical thinking, and problem-solving among students. It involves guiding, mentoring, and supporting learners as they sift through information, make choices with integrity, connect both online and offline, and use their knowledge to shape how we live, work, and learn in an AI world.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are changing the educational landscape at an unprecedented pace. The rapid advancement of AI, virtual and augmented reality, adaptive learning platforms, and other technologies are reshaping how we think about teaching and learning. With these changes, our roles as educators are evolving as well.

As we enter the age of artificial intelligence, the role of an educator becomes increasingly crucial. AI may deliver information efficiently, but it cannot replace the human elements of teaching—the ability to inspire, mentor, and leave a lasting impact.

In this book, I challenge you to adopt the role of an educator who facilitates learning.

And I’m here to walk you through this so that together we can advocate for why we must make teaching the best job ever. A job where people are paid their worth and are valued for what they do and how they do it.

Seeing beyond the dark clouds of bureaucracy can be hard. So our first step is to practice ‘first principles,’ which involves breaking down complex problems into their most basic, foundational elements and then reassembling them from the ground up to solve the problem or understand the concept in a new way–a skill that enhances creativity, empathy, and optimism. These benefits aren’t just theoretical; they translate into practical skills that help us design what’s next.

One reason it’s challenging to move beyond traditional concepts of “educator” and “classroom” is that we often stick to building on what already exists. We focus on the problems right in front of us or the scenarios that are just around the corner, which limits our ability to envision radically different educational environments and roles.

But others have, and they’ve created new models for what “school” and “learning” can look like. And this book will help you do that too. People often say, “Education hasn’t changed in the last 100 years.” While that might be true in traditional school settings, a lot of change is happening. Nowhere is this more prevalent than the new opportunities for educators as part of the Creator Economy.

The Creator Economy is a growing sector focused on supporting and empowering individuals who create and distribute content, products, and services online to an audience. Somebody can do this through blogging, online course creation, live streaming, podcasting, social media content creation, and more. These creators are educators. They might not be the traditional ones like you and me who have undergone credentialing programs. They are not those who have to walk into a classroom every day. And they are not a group that reports high levels of burnout. While they have their own challenges, they are creating a new definition for what it means to teach and learn in a changing world where lifelong learning is non-negotiable.

By understanding how to leverage your skills in this new context, you can access similar opportunities. Learning and applying first principles thinking helps us prepare for and shape these future scenarios effectively. It allows us to:

Envision new roles for ourselves beyond the traditional classroom teacher.

Imagine learning environments that might look nothing like today’s classrooms.

Anticipate the skills and knowledge that learners will need in a rapidly changing world.

Develop strategies to integrate emerging technologies in meaningful ways.

As we adopt first principles thinking, we open ourselves to new possibilities. We might see a future where educators act more like learning architects, designing personalized educational experiences with AI and other technologies. Or we might picture distributed learning networks where students engage with peers and mentors globally, not confined by physical classroom walls. The goal here is not just to do more but to do better. Using first principles allows us to move beyond small, incremental changes and start imagining new ways of working and learning. By doing so, we can better prepare ourselves and our students for a future that may look very different from today.

What If? – Exploring Possibilities

Think of first principles as our ‘what if?’—a way to imagine all the possible futures. This book encourages you to think about how your role as an educator might evolve as education shifts beyond traditional classrooms. What new skills might you need? What existing skills do you have that can help you and others adapt to and bridge changes from the past to the present? How can you use emerging technologies not just to replace what we’ve always done, but to enhance the human elements of education? But imagining possibilities is just the beginning. We must also take action, which leads us to our next step, using design thinking.

From Imagination to Action

While it’s crucial to imagine new possibilities and ask “what if,” we also need to step into “now what?” This book will not only inspire you to dream but will also equip you with the tools to turn those dreams into reality. Design thinking provides the practical steps needed to build the futures we envision today. You might be familiar with some of these ideas, but what sets this approach apart is that you’re not on this journey alone.

Building Your AI Team

In this book, I’ll show you how to create an “AI team.” This means integrating artificial intelligence not just as another tech tool, but as a partner in your teaching and learning processes. AI can perform many tasks that were unimaginable just a few years ago, but it will always need your unique human touch—what I call your “human SPARK.”

The term “AI team” refers to the idea of educators working alongside AI technologies to enhance educational outcomes. AI can handle data-heavy tasks, provide personalized learning experiences, and free up your time for what truly matters—teaching, inspiring, and engaging with your students on a human level.

The Five Acts of the Book

This book is structured into five distinct acts, each designed to empower you in navigating a world transformed by technology. In each act, I’ll introduce what I call the four “power moves” that are essential for thriving in an ever-changing environment. Whether it’s AI or any future innovations, these moves are designed to be timeless and adaptable.

Act 1: Discovering Your Human Advantage

In the first act, I share my personal journey with technology’s evolution, starting with significant shifts like the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. I’ll discuss the first power move—discovering your human advantage—which involves developing a deep awareness of your skills, strengths, and values. This act will also highlight the five qualities that make educators irreplaceable in an AI-driven world.

Act 2 and 3: Making Our Roles the Best Job Ever

Here, I will share inspiring stories and lessons learned from other educators, helping you apply the methods and mindsets you’ve learned. This section is about reimagining our roles in education to make them the most rewarding jobs possible. It will also explain why design thinking is essential for us to move beyond ideas. I’ll take you behind the scenes of Design39 Campus where I spent two years researching how educators came together to do things a different way.

Act 4: Leading Your Human and AI Team

You’ll learn how to lead your AI team effectively, moving beyond the isolation of working in silos towards a collaborative and integrated approach. This act focuses on leveraging AI to enhance your human SPARK and demonstrates how teamwork between humans and machines can bring out the best in educational settings.

Act 5: Building Cultures of Innovation

In the final act, we discuss setting boundaries and the importance of not going it alone. You’ll hear from educational leaders like my mentor, Superintendent Jerry Almendarez, who has been at the forefront of creating cultures of trust and innovation. The last section of the book focuses on your fourth and final power move—creating cultures of innovation that begin with empathy. This move is about more than just implementing new tools; it’s about leading change that resonates on a human level.

The Power of Positive Affirmations
and Community

Throughout this book you’ll question whether this is possible. Your fears and comfort of what feels familiar will scream so loudly inside your head trying to pull you back, convincing you to not step into unknown territory. To wait for someone else to come along and do it first. Seth Godin calls this your lizard brain. And there is no way to eliminate it. It’s how we are wired as humans. So throughout this book I’ll share what I have found to be the most powerful weapon in fighting back against this voice–positive affirmations. These affirmations paired with keeping a list of all the things you have already achieved, the impact you have already made, and the students who return to tell us the stories we never expected to hear are your counter voice. In this book I don’t want you to just read about what’s possible. I want you to experience it. So this book comes with your own AI-team. A group of chatbots that if you choose to engage with, will be there to help you take ideas and reflections and turn them into impact. Because it can’t be said enough: we don’t have to do this work alone.

I believe in you. I believe in us. And I believe educators are uniquely positioned to lead in an AI-integrated world. We are the only group that touches every generation, shaping the minds that will define the future. This book will help you navigate these new responsibilities and opportunities with confidence. Your engagement and initiative will shape not just the future of education but also the societal norms surrounding technology and learning. Let’s step forward with courage and curiosity to make education the best job ever.

Introduction to Affirmations

Throughout this book, you’ll find “Inner Spark” affirmations—powerful statements designed to fight the voice inside your head and inspire action. These aren’t just words on a page; they’re sparks of motivation, helping you tap into your inner strength and reshape your reality.

Use them as fuel for your journey of personal growth and transformation. And of course you can change them to make them your own.

Personal Resilience

Say this out loud with me:

I am a spark of positive change in the world. I no longer passively accept injustice, inequality, or harmful systems in any area of life. Instead, I actively work to transform situations that are unacceptable to me. And throughout I am valued and trusted to make decisions.

I nurture my inner spark and have:

The courage to speak up against wrongs.

The wisdom to identify root causes of problems.

The creativity to envision better alternatives.

The perseverance to push for meaningful reforms.

The ability to inspire and mobilize others to join me.

The resilience to keep going in the face of setbacks.

I attract opportunities to make a difference, whether big or small. I draw supportive people and resources to aid my efforts. My actions ripple outward, creating more positive change than I can see. I am not limited by how things have been in the past. I can use my inner spark to reshape reality in alignment with my values of justice, compassion, and human dignity. I help create the world I wish to see through my thoughts and actions.

Act 1
Your Human Advantage

Chapter 1
The Deal That Expired

I know all about change from experience; I am an educator. Few professionals know change as intimately as people in our profession. Each year, the students in educators’ classrooms change. Throughout the school year, each student will change. There are often changes in faculty or administration. And, worst of all, new curricula, educational standards, and teaching approaches can represent sweeping change. Keeping up with it all can feel like a dance where the moves keep changing—sometimes making us forget why we enjoyed this to begin with and why we devoted years of study and, in truth, our lives to teaching.

As a result, educators often learn to resist change in education, finding it easier to retreat to the comfort of an old system that feels familiar. Yet, as I look back on my experiences as a student, educator, and now entrepreneur, I see that real transformation in education and life isn’t just about embracing discomfort. It’s about leveraging it as a powerful tool to take control of our future.

In my journey as a student and an educator, I’ve seen firsthand how the ripples of change affect the educational landscape. Each transition, whether moving continents or transitioning from student to educator, brought a new perspective on learning. Through these experiences, I began to understand that to embrace change truly, one must first understand its impact at a personal and systemic level.

However, my roller coaster ride with change started long before I stepped foot in the classroom. I moved to the United States when I was ten. This move wasn’t just a change in geography but a seismic shift in cultural and educational landscapes. Growing up in London, our dad wanted opportunities for his four daughters—bigger and brighter opportunities that would open pathways both for service and wealth. While we know London today as a diverse, multicultural society, back then, we were one of the few South Asian families in our community. My father valued diversity of people and ideas and knew we would benefit from a more multicultural upbringing. He had experienced racism in London and felt that California was a more open-minded society. He wholeheartedly embraced venturing to the United States to pursue the American dream.

When I started attending my American school, change greeted me instantly. Grade levels in London differ from those in the U.S. Moving up from one grade level to the next each year is one of the cornerstones of education. So, when we moved here, that was the first blow. I had just finished Class 5 in London and was told I would be in Grade 5 in California. It seemed that I had made no progress from one year to the next. That all-important number stayed the same. Such things make no sense to a ten-year-old who has just crossed the ocean to a new country.

School in London was hard, but I remember loving it every day. In America, it was boring, and I felt miserable. People often ask why I struggled as much as I did. One answer is that I was happy in London. I enjoyed school in a way I didn’t experience when we moved. Leaving was a change I could not endorse. We had a diverse range of activities, including swimming, tennis, music, dance, horseback riding, and gymnastics, many of which took place as part of the school day rather than as extracurricular, after-school, or family-centered activities.

Above all, I remember from my time in London that I loved learning.

Transitioning from London’s diverse activities to the more rigid American schooling was jarring. It highlighted a glaring issue in education: the need for holistic approaches to student development. The rigidity and monotony of the classes and the disconnection from real-world applications all contributed to a growing disillusionment. This realization would later become a cornerstone in my advocacy for a more inclusive and empathetic educational system.

I should perhaps consider myself lucky; most children don’t retain that wonder and enchantment into fifth grade. According to the 2012 Gallup Student Poll, which surveyed nearly 500,000 students across 37 states, student engagement drastically declines as they progress through school.1 While eight in 10 elementary students are engaged, this falls to six in 10 by middle school and only four in 10 by high school.

Are We Doing Any Better Now?

A decade later, a lot has stayed the same. A survey conducted by Gallup in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation asked over 2,000 students to evaluate their schools across 11 essential aspects of their educational experience.2 The results revealed that U.S. schools are underperforming, with an average GPA of just 2.68 across all categories. None of the areas assessed received an A grade. According to the surveyed students, schools are falling short in three crucial areas: fostering excitement for learning, providing exposure to potential career paths, and offering adequate support for student mental health.

When it comes to learning, 52% of students give their school a “C” or lower for making them excited about learning.

In a nationwide survey of 21,678 U.S. high school students, researchers from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Yale Child Study Center found that nearly 75% of the students’ self-reported feelings related to school were negative.3 The study also included a secondary “experience sampling” investigation. They asked 472 high school students in Connecticut to report their emotions at various points throughout the school day. The findings from this study suggest that students might be feeling some of the same emotions as their educators. High school students reported that they experienced negative emotions 60% of the time. Worse, more than half of the students reported feeling tired, stressed, or bored.

In the open-ended responses, the most common emotion students reported was tired (58%). The following most reported emotions—all just under 50%—were stressed, bored, calm, and happy. The rating scale supported the findings, with students feeling most stressed (79.83%) and bored (69.51%).2

The efficacy of our investment in education is increasingly questioned, especially when confronted with students’ disheartening sentiments—boredom, exhaustion, and pressure dominating their educational experiences. The call for a shift towards hands-on learning that aligns more closely with future career preparation is growing louder, juxtaposed against the rapid evolution of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and its potential to change every industry.

They Wanted Me to Believe There is Only One Way

Speaking of loving learning, that was the next part of my life that would soon change. One explicit memory is etched in my mind. I was in math class watching my educator explain long division in the most convoluted way. I decided it was time to speak up.

“That’s not how you do long division,” I said.

That brand of unabashed confidence and agency was not appreciated, so it was no wonder it landed me right in the principal’s office. Something changed in my heart that day. For the next three years, I would miserably go to school—day in and day out—doing everything that was asked of me precisely how it was being instructed, never questioning, never daring, never exploring. Slowly but surely, my love for learning waned each day.

I learned this process for division in a different way. However, instead of exploring different approaches, my teacher, like many others, felt tied to one (and only one) way of doing things. Any diversion from the accepted method was rejected without consideration.

The late Sir Ken Robinson is celebrated for having shared this perspective in his classic Ted Talk:

We need to educate our children about unpredictability. If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. We stigmatize mistakes in school; mistakes are the worst thing you can make. We are educating our kids out of their creative capacities.4

Playing video games was a passion I managed to keep alive during this transition in my life. Super Mario World, Banjo Kazooie, Nascar, and problem-solving games became a sanctuary, offering intellectual stimulation and problem-solving challenges that school no longer provided. I would escape school, come home, and immediately go and play games just to feel normal again. This dichotomy between my academic struggles and my love for gaming underscored an essential truth: effective education must engage and challenge, just as these games did.

For millions of students today, school does not feel like a place of safety or a haven. Instead, for so many children, it is another place where they feel judged, measured, attacked, and told that they aren’t good enough.

As Maya Angelou said, “People don’t remember what you say, but they will always remember how you made them feel.”

I attended high school in an Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate (AP/IB) program, but change in that arena was equally troubling. The problem at this point was that I needed and wanted change, but change was suddenly elusive. High school wasn’t much better than what came before: the structure, the monotony, the lack of connection to anything related to the real world. It all combined into a deafening boredom that nurtured the rebel within me more and more each day.

One day, while listening to my AP/IB U.S. History educator drone on at the podium, reading the textbook to us as we followed along, I decided enough was enough. I would have no more of it. As if the universe was filling my order for a way out, a friend mentioned that I could take the California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE) and be free of it.

“A third grader could pass it,” she said.

The CHSPE was my ticket out. I immediately signed up, and just a few months later, my father signed me out of high school and into Orange Coast Community College (OCC). I spent hours browsing the course catalog the way most people browse Amazon or scroll through Instagram. The idea of being able to choose my classes, create my schedule, and design my own learning experiences revived my love for learning. I drank in all the possibilities like a woman stranded in the desert coming upon an oasis of fresh water. My thirst to learn was once again quenched.

I took four years’ worth of hours in two years, signing up for everything from ethnic studies to education and taking anything that interested me, like sociology, sewing, graphics, and website design. Suddenly, the dull gray world of education broke out in vibrant color. I was alive again. And then came math.

I tested into algebra 1 but needed help understanding the concepts. While I excelled in almost every other subject area, I never recovered in math. Growing up, it had been one of my favorite subjects. My basics were strong, but that interruption in 5th grade was one from which I had not fully recovered. I mistakenly believed I could never rebound from that time. Not excelling in math was a major roadblock since I dreamed of working for Nintendo as a game designer. Growing up as an avid video game player, I knew exactly what game I wanted to design. One day, while in the counseling center looking at computer science majors, I surveyed the requirements. A harsh reality check set in when I saw the list of calculus classes. The brutal reminder of what I had lost because of that change in 5th grade immediately stormed back to me. I told myself it was time to choose a different career path.

And at the time, I had no idea what that might be.

As I approached my second year, it was time to apply to transfer to a four-year university. I received a letter advising that I had been elected for the Dean’s Social Science Award. Social science award? I hadn’t applied for anything. I went to my counselor, who tried to explain.

“You must love this study area because you have taken many classes in this category and have done incredibly well.”

Cool, I thought.

There was a career fair in the same week as I received the letter. I browsed the many tables, including The University of California Irvine’s (UCI) display that had a sign advertising its social science program. I just got an award for that! When I inquired about what I might do in social science, one of the paths I could take was teaching. While at OCC, I had taken an elementary education course that required fieldwork. While I loved it, I realized I played favorites, and that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

That same semester, I was working for Extended Opportunities Programs and Services (EOPS), a program designed to assist underserved communities and guide high school students toward knowing their options. Each week, I visited two high schools and spent three hours at each, sharing with kids their options for continuing their education. The experience brought me so much joy. Watching their faces as I told them about possibilities they didn’t know existed was incredibly rewarding and emotionally fulfilling.

Finally, someone asked if I had considered getting a social science credential and pursuing a teaching career at the high school level. As this person shared that UCI’s social science program was as a pathway to the master’s and credential program for teaching, the idea grew more and more appealing.

I had never taken the American College Testing (ACT) or the SAT. I was incredibly opposed to standardized tests and was never a good test taker. Besides, I wasn’t motivated enough to spend hours learning to master the test. Thankfully, the social science program had a portfolio option that, once completed, waived the California Subject Examinations for educators (CSET).

I was sold and felt like I knew what I should be doing to prepare myself. What I didn’t know then was that those experiences would be the insights that would allow me to advocate for what I do today. While I couldn’t see what was next in that moment, I knew the world had shifted for me and that I should trust in my strengths more than my major or my job description.

As Steve Jobs so widely shared: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards,” invites us to consider a deeper trust. Trust not just in the serendipity of life’s unfolding but in the strengths and passions that define us.

Our true strengths and interests often linger in the shadows, unexplored or unspoken, until later stages of our lives. Sometimes never emerging at all. Looking back, I realize this self-awareness can be learned. Embracing and understanding these early on can become our human advantage, especially as we navigate a world where future roles and jobs are yet to be defined. Imagine the transformative potential if young individuals could, from the outset, align their educational and career trajectories with their inherent strengths and interests.

Light Your SPARK #1: Your Change Snapshot

Reflect briefly on a moment of change in your life, focusing on your feelings and the emotions you experienced.

Here’s How:

Think of a Moment: Reflect on a meaningful change in your life. This could be a move, a new job, a significant personal decision, or any moment that marked a turning point for you.

Capture Your Thoughts: In the space below, briefly respond to the following prompts about that moment of change.

The Moment: In one sentence, describe the change.

Feelings: What was your initial emotional reaction? (Choose one: excited, scared, hopeful, uncertain, etc.)

Challenge: Identify one challenge you faced during this change.

Growth: In one sentence, describe how things are now.

Reflection: Think about how this change has shaped you.

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Switch,” a specialized GPT—here to guide you in exploring how moments of change have shaped your journey. Access Switch and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Chapter 2
The 5 Qualities of Irreplaceable Educators

Drawing from Jobs’ insight, the challenge lies in how we can better assist the younger generation in recognizing their “dots.” How do we cultivate an environment that nurtures the discovery of these emerging interests and strengths, enabling them to articulate and shape their futures? We must create safe spaces for experimentation, failure, and learning, fostering a confidence that is rooted in understanding their unique journey. By mentoring them to piece together their own dots, we not only align them with their true essence but also prepare them to adapt and thrive in an evolving global landscape.

As Jensen Huang shares:

Greatness does not come from intelligence. Greatness comes from character, and character isn’t formed out of smart people. It’s formed out of people who have suffered.5

Educators play a crucial role in this process, guiding students through their challenges, helping them learn from their experiences, and transforming difficulties into moments of growth and self-discovery. This brings us to the first of five qualities that can elevate and underscore the importance of each educator in the profession.

Quality #1
You Help Light a SPARK Within Others

I believe educators are uniquely positioned to do this work inside and outside the classroom. This is inherent to what you do as an educator–you help spark students’ strengths by fostering an environment where every strength is seen and nurtured. This is the first of five qualities that I believe will make educators irreplaceable in a world of AI because they are uniquely positioned to influence the lives of each and every young person growing up in today’s VUCA world. VUCA is an acronym based on the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus often applied to today’s world to describe the conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

In this VUCA world, to effectively design this experience for others, we must first put on our own oxygen mask. It begins by understanding and embracing our own unique talents, interests, and passions. This self-awareness not only enriches our own lives but also equips us with the genuine insight and empathy needed to guide others in connecting their dots. In doing so, we foster a cycle of learning and growth that extends beyond our individual experiences, contributing to a culture where every person is encouraged and supported in navigating their unique path.

In a future where the contours of professional life remain fluid and unpredictable, the act of trusting in our strengths—and fostering this trust in the next generation—is not merely hopeful optimism but a strategic imperative. It’s about enabling them not just to foresee their future but to actively and confidently shape it.

I wish I could say I remember having an educator who did this for me growing up, but I can’t. I was, however, incredibly lucky that my dad was this educator. I have three younger sisters, and ever since I can remember he has always highlighted for us what makes us unique. He did this in such a subtle way so that not only did we each have confidence in our own strengths, but we appreciated each other’s strengths which made us naturally collaborate together instead of compete with each other. Whether it was planning a birthday party, planning each other’s weddings, or knowing who to go to for advice, his emphasis on what made each of us unique instilled within us a strong sense of confidence. But it was more than confidence; it was unshakeable spiritual faith. Whether it was manifestation, God, the universe, or some other spiritual reality, I knew my hard work and perseverance would pay off.

Thank God for my dad because it wouldn’t be until graduate school that I would have that magical experience of the one educator who changed my life.

I made my way to UCI, where I had an incredible learning experience. While the freedom to select classes wasn’t as flexible as OCC, I could choose various electives within my major. During my last semester, one of my most memorable classes was the history of modern Iran. It lit a fire within me. I read all eight books that were optional readings. Looking back, the assassination of Mohammad Mossadegh, the 35th Prime Minister of Iran would be one of the many catalysts for much of the conflict in the modern Middle East. I had many Iranian friends and was particularly struck by how the foreign policy had stolen a beloved leader from its people via a coup that the people and the country have yet to recover from. This elective would be the beginning of a relationship with an incredible educator, mentor, and friend, Bruce Baron.

On the first day of my credential program, Bruce inspired us to acknowledge the importance of teaching historical thinking, of taking an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning where the student was always in the driver’s seat. One of our first assignments would be to take a chapter from Lies My Educator Told Me and compare the historical narrative to what was written in a classroom textbook. Serendipity struck once more, and I just so happened to get the chapter on U.S. foreign policy. In addition to the examples shared in the book, I had to choose another topic to compare and contrast.

Having taken the elective on the history of modern Iran just a few months prior, I was mortified by how stripped down the story about Mossadegh was in the U.S. history textbook.

After reviewing my completed assignment, Bruce said, “You are incredibly passionate and knowledgeable. This isn’t a common topic. How do you know so much about this?”

This feedback and the curiosity Bruce shared on my assignment became the beginning of a story I had always heard, yet one I had never experienced. The story of the one educator who would change your life. It was one of the few times an educator had taken an interest in my ideas, my work, and in me. It was a rare occurrence when my strengths and interests were highlighted.

As a result, I was placed with two incredible master educators—both hand-picked by Bruce.

As the year ended and it was time to apply for jobs, Bruce told me about an opening at Northwood High School in Irvine. It was an interdisciplinary history and English experience modeled after the humanities department at UC Irvine.

I didn’t apply. They’ll never hire me, I thought.

One day, I got a call from Jim Mamer, department chair at Northwood. “I’m sorry we haven’t called you for an interview yet,” he said. “They seem to have lost your paperwork.”

“There is no paperwork,” I answered, incredibly embarrassed. “I didn’t apply.”

The next day in class, Bruce approached me. “Do you not want a job?” he questioned.

“Of course I do, but I don’t think they’ll hire me.”

Bewilderment spread across his face, followed by defiance. “Get on your computer and go fill out the application. You’re going to get a call for an interview.”

I did, and the rest is history. It was the kind of change I could embrace!

No interaction with a machine could ever replace those precious moments I shared with Bruce. The insight required to see a quality in someone else when they can’t quite see it for themselves is one of the most irreplaceable skills educators inherently possess. Watching him and others work their magic of inspiring people to see themselves as others see them is one of the reasons I decided to become an educator.

I graduated in 2007, optimistic, excited, and feeling accomplished. I did it. I went to school, and I got the grades. I did all the things I was supposed to do. That day, as I walked across a stage with a master’s and credentials, I headed into my number one choice for a job. I had made it.

I didn’t know it then, but these years would form the foundation for the educator and advocate I grew to become. Looking back, I wonder how many other people there are like me. Ones who had to move and struggled to acclimate. Ones who thought they weren’t good at something and let dreams pass them by because of letters, grades, and standardized learning experiences.

How many people are there who just needed to hear someone believe in them, to give them the confidence they needed to take action?

How might our world be different if everyone had an educator like Bruce in their life?

I shudder to imagine how many children’s love for learning we’ve let wither away with our programs, rules, and tests.

How many people don’t pursue their hopes and dreams because their natural inclination toward a growth mindset is buried in cement? How many have never had an educator insist that we reach for the stars, like Bruce did?

How many adults have we burnt out with rigid frameworks and benchmarks, steering them away from the essence of what education should be—a journey of discovery, curiosity, and passion.

Online assessments can tell you your strengths, and generative AI tools can have conversations with you about them. However, the contextualization of your strengths and hearing someone share how they saw them in experiences or interactions with you, the way my dad and Bruce did, is what makes educators irreplaceable.

I meet these individuals every day, and I’m sure you do too. Throughout this book, I’ll introduce you to people just like you and me. People who persevered through the many barriers we face, those who leaned into their human advantage to do the work that matters most, the human work of building trusting relationships so people feel safe. Above all, these are educators who recognize the importance of the lessons we strive to share with our students every day: Your first try isn’t your last try.

Every challenge is an opportunity to grow and innovate. Each of the stories you’ll read throughout this book showcases how educators and students embraced change, discovered new possibilities, and made a lasting impact.

How did they RISE to the occasion?

Realize: What was the moment they recognized the opportunity to approach things differently?

Innovate: What steps and strategies were taken to turn their ideas into action?

Succeed: What successes have they achieved, and what’s working well?

Encourage: What advice do they offer for others seeking to follow a similar path?

Let’s go to California and meet Robyn.

Story: Creativity is Not Optional

In the Santa Ana Unified School District, where the Arts Department’s mantra is “Creativity is not optional,” Director Robyn MacNair exemplifies the Warrior Sparketype. This Sparketype, which we will explore more in-depth in chapter 20, fuels her determination, driving her to passionately champion the arts with unwavering energy and commitment. Under her leadership, creativity flourishes not only for students but also for her team, as she ensures that the arts remain a vital part of education.

“As an artist, I always think we can do things in a different way. As a reflective human and educator, it is at the heart of who I am to do things differently. My creative practice requires me to be a risk taker. As an educational leader, I have seen the potential for doing things differently, especially during the pandemic. And then we had to snap back to the way it was before because it was easier.

Deep educational transformation is very hard. When I participated in our school district’s process to begin the development of the graduate profile and the pursuant process of student listening sessions to hear what students are longing for, seeing the intentional design of the process, I knew I had to fold this into the work I lead with educators and students in the arts department. It was a bonus to have others leading the district hear over and over how much students wanted more arts in their education. We needed the design thinking process, with empathy interviews, to reveal the data that would lead to action steps we could take to respond to students and remove barriers to provide equitable access for all students to a well-rounded education including the arts. It became even more imperative because of the graduate profile competencies and our goal of putting students at the center.

This required us to take initiative and be brave. Confidence comes from taking risks. You don’t have to build confidence before taking action. You build confidence by taking action. I observed a successful process–listening sessions–which sparked my curiosity about the data being collected in that process. I took action to learn more and figure out how to apply that to my sphere of influence. This led to ripples of spheres which then influenced the entire school district culture.

Small group collaborations focused on working through the design thinking process with an emphasis on empathy interviews. This helped people engage in authentic listening processes to deepen understanding and helped others to be seen and heard. It led to interdepartmental collaborations and people activating and energizing in meaningful work, which was co-designed once it was identified through the collaborative process. This led to continued work on ongoing collaborations, helping to improve systems and organization efficiency and vibrancy with people truly aligning their work and sharing the responsibility for the success of the organizational systems, improving them together for the benefit of all.

To all educators everywhere, I recommend that you don’t wait for permission. When you are curious and see something you want to pursue for the good of your personal or professional organization, take action. Think like an artist and engage in transdisciplinary research in service of your idea and engage in a process of experimentation with confidence and self-trust. Innovation only happens when you’re willing to take risks. You can’t effectively coach and encourage others to take risks if you’re unwilling to take them yourself. Flex risk-taking muscles often. And build a tribe of thought partners who can provide feedback, like an art critique process, for consideration to help you sharpen your reasoning and clarify your vision.

Making the first mark on a blank canvas, empty piece of paper, or musical score is always the hardest part. Once you get in and start in a direction, the work will define itself as to what it needs to be. Listen to others to develop more understanding. Listen to yourself as the expert in your field. Practice often enough and you’ll have the bravery to repeat the design process over and over and continue to learn through the iterative practices.

This is the creative process. And, creativity is in our DNA. We are all creators.

Creativity is NOT optional.”

Quality #2
You Are Resilient Through Change

A few months into my first year of teaching and I thought to myself I had made it. Or so I thought. More change was coming.

This brings us to the second quality that will make you irreplaceable: You exemplify perseverance by turning every obstacle into an opportunity, making it a teachable moment, because you know that resilience is at the heart of learning and leading.

I was just a few months into an incredible experience, settling into my new home with a rotating classroom of 100 students, each with their unique hopes, dreams, and challenges, and I was on Cloud 9. However, only a few months into this role, my dream shattered when I received a layoff notice. Truthfully, I had never even heard the word “layoff” before. But its meaning was clear to me as I was brought into a meeting along with all the other first- and second-year educators and listened as they explained that, as a result of the recession, schools were having to undergo budget cuts. Northwood had long enjoyed a 20:1 student-educator ratio; however, their first solution was to increase class size, which meant all first- and second-year educators would be let go.

This experience was more than just a personal setback; it was a stark illustration of the changing work landscape, especially in education. It highlighted how economic, political, and societal external forces can drastically alter our professional and personal paths. This realization was a pivotal moment, prompting me to think more critically about the future of education and the need for adaptability and innovation in teaching. It’s only reflecting back on this experience that I can now see that this period of personal upheaval coincided with a time of remarkable technological innovation.

In 2008, as I and many other educators faced the uncertainty of layoffs, just a few months earlier in 2007, visionaries like Steve Jobs were introducing new ways of communicating with the iPhone. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube were redefining social interaction and content creation, and startups like Airbnb were emerging.

Author William Gibson pinpoints this challenge in one line, “The future is already here – it’s just not very evenly distributed.”6

In 2022 the world faced another inflection point that would transform the landscape of how we work, learn, and live–ChatGPT. Within two months, the platform had 100,000 users. The fastest adopted platform.

This stark contrast between the challenges in education and the technological leaps only highlighted the growing divide. It made me realize the need for educational systems to adapt and evolve, embracing innovation not as a choice but as a necessity for keeping pace with a rapidly changing world.

Light Your SPARK #2: What’s in Your Way

To pursue our aspirations effectively, we must first identify and understand the barriers that stand in our way.

Here’s How:

Take a moment to think about what you genuinely wish you had more time for in your life. It could be a hobby, learning a new skill, spending time with loved ones, personal wellness, or working on a passion project.

Write down these wishes in a list format. Aim for three to five items that resonate strongly with you:

Barrier Identification: Next to each wish, identify what you perceive as the primary barrier to pursuing this interest. Is it lack of time, resources, fear, lack of knowledge, or something else?

Reflect and Strategize: Look at each pair (wish and barrier) and reflect on the following questions for each:

Is this barrier within my control?

Can it be modified or removed with some effort or change in perspective?

What is one small step I can take to start overcoming this barrier?

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Ridge,” a specialized GPT—ready to support you in overcoming the barriers that stand between you and your goals. Access Ridge and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Quality #3
You Recognize Existing and Emerging Trends

This brings us to our third quality of an irreplaceable educator: You are a learning futurist and recognize emerging trends. In a world characterized by rapid technological advancements, societal shifts, and evolving workforce demands, exceptional educators stay attuned to the changing landscape. You highlight existing and emerging trends for your students by bridging the gap between content and real-world relevance, preparing students for a future where change is the only constant.

Irreplaceable educators are curious and proactive learners themselves. They stay informed about the latest research, innovations, and best practices in their field. They seek out professional development opportunities and engage in continuous learning to deepen their expertise and stay ahead of the curve. But recognizing emerging trends isn’t just about keeping up with the latest tools and techniques. It’s about understanding the broader context in which their students will live and work. Irreplaceable educators anticipate the challenges and opportunities their students will face in the future, and they design learning experiences that prepare them to navigate uncertainty and change. For example, as artificial intelligence and automation transform the job market, irreplaceable educators focus on cultivating the uniquely human skills that will always be in demand: agency, capacity to inspire, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and adaptability. They help students develop the mindsets and competencies needed to thrive in a world where lifelong learning and reinvention are the norm.

By staying attuned to emerging trends and anticipating the needs of the future, irreplaceable educators ensure that their students are not just prepared for the world as it is, but equipped to shape the world as it could be. They inspire a sense of agency and empowerment, helping students see themselves as active participants in creating a better future. In a rapidly changing world, the ability to recognize and respond to emerging trends is a hallmark of truly exceptional educators. It’s what enables them to stay relevant, impactful, and irreplaceable in the lives of their students.

After my first layoff notice, I was devastated, angry, and resentful. I had been evicted from my home. How could my evaluations, hard work, passion, and motivation all be reduced to being just a number that wasn’t high enough on a list? Instead of enjoying the summer that I had been looking forward to, I was anxious about how to continue as an educator. I was catapulted back to that fifth-grade year, where my life was reduced to a number.

The next few years were no better. While I was always fortunate enough to find a job, holding onto it was a different story. In 2010, I began researching other careers. I had lost my motivation and passion. I wanted a home again, where I could be part of a community that sees kids transition from their first year to graduation. I longed to be there to enjoy all the moments in between and celebrate each milestone.

In searching other careers, I came across Linchpin by Seth Godin. Godin shared how, though his claim to fame was his collection of marketing books, Linchpin was for everyone. It was his way of letting people like me know that the deal they had been promised had an expiration date that we were never told about. The deal is that if you go to school, get good grades, and do what you are told, stability is waiting for you on the other side. That deal expired in 2007. In today’s world, it isn’t enough to do your job well; you must be indispensable. He writes:

The job is what you do when you are told what to do. The job is showing up at the factory, following instructions, and being managed. Someone can always do your job a little better or faster or cheaper than you can. The job might be difficult, it might require skill, but it’s a job. Your art is what you do when no one can tell you exactly how to do it. Your art is the act of taking personal responsibility, challenging the status quo, and changing people. I call the process of doing your art ‘the work.’ It’s possible to have a job and do the work, too. In fact, that’s how you become a linchpin.7

This one quote would change the trajectory of my career. It was the first time I had been challenged to begin connecting the dots. To think about my strengths, skills, and, ultimately, the value I bring. This wasn’t about trying to fit myself into a puzzle; it was about showing people a piece they didn’t even know they were missing.

Earlier you met Robyn who shared that she leads her department with the vision that creativity is not optional. Being an artist was important in 2007, and it is non-negotiable in an AI-world where being an artist is how you spark your human advantage. Creativity is the norm, not the exception. As such, every industry is impacted by it just as every job soon will be.

Subconsciously, helping students expand their vision was something I had always done for my learners. One of the challenges in history classes is literacy. To get to AP-level classes, you have to have strong reading and writing skills, areas many students struggle in. Most students don’t know that academic writing is incredibly formulaic; practice enough, and you can game the system to do well. I had been that second-year college student looking at a paper filled with calculus requirements, thinking I wasn’t good enough. I wanted more for my students; I wanted them to know there was a path forward. One of my strengths was seeing their interests and their unique skills—the qualities that made them indispensable—and making sure they recognized and saw the same within themselves. Strengthening students’ literacy skills in history was what made me indispensable. I took this message with me to every interview.

Understanding emerging trends allows us to prepare our students for what lies ahead. To effectively translate these insights into the classroom, we need a coherent approach that everyone can grasp. This brings us to our fourth quality—fostering alignment, where we create a shared language of learning that unites students and educators around common goals and understanding.

Quality #4
You Create Alignment

And now, your fourth quality: You foster alignment by creating a shared language of learning, uniting students and educators in understanding and purpose.

Irreplaceable educators understand that language is the foundation of learning. They recognize that the words we use shape the way we think, act, and create. The language we use shapes the conversations that we have. That’s why irreplaceable educators take the time to define key terms and concepts in ways that are specific, meaningful, and actionable for their unique context. For example, an irreplaceable educator might notice that terms like “growth mindset” or “project-based learning” are being used inconsistently or superficially in their school. Instead of just going along with the jargon, they facilitate conversations to unpack what these terms really mean for their students and community.

They might define “growth mindset” not just as a general attitude, but as a set of specific practices and behaviors, such as embracing challenges, learning from feedback, and celebrating effort and progress. They turn terms into tangible actions. For example, when students lose motivation, they tell them to use phrases like, “I can’t do this yet...” so that they know their first try isn’t their last try. Then they integrate these practices into their daily routines and interactions with students. Similarly, they might define “project-based learning” not just as a trendy instructional approach but an approach to engage students in authentic, relevant, and challenging work. They collaborate with colleagues to design projects that are aligned with standards, connected to real-world issues, and tailored to students’ interests and needs.

By creating a shared language of learning, irreplaceable educators build a foundation for collective growth and impact. They help their learning community move beyond buzzwords and into a deeper understanding of what powerful learning looks and feels like in practice.

In an AI-driven world, where the landscape of education is constantly shifting, the ability to create a shared language of learning is more important than ever. It’s what enables educators and students to communicate clearly, collaborate effectively, and adapt nimbly to new challenges and opportunities. Irreplaceable educators are the ones who shape the language of learning in their schools and beyond. This shared meaning of what we mean by learning inspires, empowers, and transforms. They know that when we change the way we talk about learning, we change the way we think about what’s possible - for ourselves, our students, and our world. I wanted to be that kind of educator. I was determined to be that kind of educator.

I did my student teaching at Huntington Beach High School, so when an opportunity opened up, I took my portfolio, applied, and got the job. Once again, I thought I had returned home, only to learn that change would sneak up behind me and pull the rug out from under me again.

A few months in, budget cuts struck again. This time, I went from being full-time to part-time. The shift was done in a manipulative way so that, even though I was teaching half-time, the schedule was designed to classify me as less than 50% of an employee, drastically reducing my pay and reducing benefits. However, the expectation was that I would act as a full-time educator. What made matters worse was that the administration was desperate to increase graduation rates, surreptitiously discouraging educators from failing students. Little did I know that those who did issue a failing grade would face harsh repercussions. The rebel in me, who had been silenced but not destroyed, emerged again as I refused to lie.

This time, under the guise of budget cuts, the friction led to yet another round of layoff notices with a special twist. In the exit interview, the principal said, “You’re just not an A+ educator, and we only want A+ educators.”

That same week, I had an interview at Fairmont Private Schools. Shortly after being told I was not an A+ educator, I had to teach a class during my interview process. As someone who already struggled with confidence, you can only imagine my confidence level going into that interview. However, I walked in and did what I had planned. I got a call from the principal, Bobby Mendoza, a few moments after, who surprisingly said, “We loved your confidence, enthusiasm, and interactive learning experience. We’re going to hire you, but…”

It was about a $20,000 decrease in salary. I didn’t even think twice. That encouragement, acknowledgment, and appreciation were all I needed. Bobby is the reason I didn’t leave the profession. Under his leadership I thrived. He was the spark for everything that would unfold next. For many educators, the goal is not necessarily a bigger paycheck. We want and need to know that we are valued and supported. Without that, instead of being the best job ever, it feels like the worst job ever. Sure, we’ll show up every day and go through the motions, but the light of purpose and joy in our work will slowly dim.

The loss of great educators to burnout is a national crisis we cannot ignore. Two forces in education are hurtling toward each other and threatening to explode like an atomic bomb: educator burnout and educator shortages. Both are dire and increasing in school districts across the country, and the globe. And both are connected.

Burnout is a common theme across many industries in the U.S. Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace assessment reported that employees are experiencing high stress levels in the post-pandemic era. Comparing this to the decade before the pandemic, 2012’s numbers showed only 36% of employees reporting high levels of stress. Not only are people experiencing the stress, they are concerned enough about it to be researching it. This is according to Google search data that shows searches for the phrase “signs of burnout” are on the rise, increasing 24% in 2020.

Topping the charts for overworked and undervalued: educators.8

However, one cause that’s often overlooked is being in a prolonged state of misalignment. Misalignment burnout happens when we constantly engage with environments and in activities that go against our innermost values and beliefs, leading to a disconnect between our true selves and professional identity.

The National Educators Association (NEA) unveiled that 67% of these prominent educators view burnout as a “highly significant” concern. Additionally, 90% of the participants perceive it as a “moderately serious issue” confronting educators. The survey identified unoccupied positions as a key factor contributing to heightened stress levels among educators and other staff.9 Burnout is not limited to educators alone; it also affects school support staff. According to a UK-based poll, 21% of school support staff have encountered burnout, while an additional 15% reported experiencing exhaustion.

In early 2022, statistics from the National Center for Education found that 44% of public schools had full or part-time teaching positions unfilled. This was attributed to unexpected resignations and a heavy reliance on non-teaching staff. Consequently, almost half of all American public schools were actively in search of new educators, resulting in a widespread shortage of staff. 61% of school administrators reported struggling with filling open positions for educators, substitutes, counselors, administrators, and mental health professionals. And colleges reported lower numbers of students choosing education as a profession.10

Educators are always searching for “good schools” to work in or transfer to. But what defines a good school has gotten more stringent and more difficult to find as schools demand more from educators (and staff) often without giving them the tools they need to meet those standards. Without the right tools, the divide between educator and learners is a widening gap. With these tools, we promote the kind of connection that is necessary to bring educators and students together in that shared language of learning.

The long-held assumption that K-12 educators will remain in their role because they love working with kids is no longer something society should take advantage of.

And no longer something we should continue to accept. It’s time to rethink the day-to-day experiences of what it means to work in education.

From Public to Private

Fairmont was, by far, one of the best schools I had ever worked in. It was a place where I wasn’t just another number, rather, I was judged by the value I brought to the table. Toward the end of my second year, mobile devices were on the rise, with many schools implementing 1:1 models. Fairmont wanted to pilot a 1:1 program with a few educators using different devices. From making slideshows to working with a Disk Operating System (DOS) to designing invitations and brochures, technology was a personal passion. And if it meant I wasn’t at the mercy of the computer lab’s schedule, I was all in.

I did not own a smartphone or iPad at this time. I would hang out with my friends, and instead of talking to one another, everyone played “Words with Friends” on their devices and tagged each other on Facebook. If you know me, you’ll probably never believe that I was one of those who thought mobile technology was ruining our society.

Just a few months in, however, I was mesmerized by the power of technology to enhance learning. The ability of my students to share their learning beyond text essays and scantrons and use their voices to share ideas showed me sides of their personalities I had never seen before. They examined historical sources in ways that enriched our discussions and I was now able to integrate even more projects than I had been able to do before.

A few months later, we went to our first conference–the CUE (Computer-Using Educators) Conference. Talk about change…this was a first for me. I walked around the Palm Springs Convention Center, wondering how all these people had come together knew each other.

By this time, I was overwhelmed by how much I had learned about the iPad and its possibilities. We were barely scratching the surface. I attended one of the workshops on using iBooks Author, a digital book creator on the Mac. On my way home from the conference, I stopped by Best Buy, invested in a MacBook, and spent the weekend curating the conference experience, making a case for why we should choose iPads at Fairmount. Eager to apply what I had learned, not just to tell but show the possibilities, I turned my presentation into an iBook. I presented this to my leadership team. (This is what Seth Godin meant when he said, “Be indispensable.”) Instead of telling the team why we should choose iPads, I showed them and immersed them in an experience. So began my journey into the field of education technology.

Real talk: some of you might be thinking you left public school and went to a private school and could do all of that. If you think that, hold that thought there’s more to the story.

You’re Using an iPad for What?!?

In 2014, while I was teaching history and leading our 1:1 initiative, my sister got accepted into the Physician Assistant Program at the University of Southern California [USC]. Her admissions list included an iPad. I told her that one of our greatest struggles with iPads in high school was that many parents worried their children were unprepared for college. They wanted to see their children highlighting books and writing essays on paper. I needed to find examples to answer this parental concern in a way that reassured them beyond statistics about the future of work. A decade from now someone will write this same line but about essays and AI. Technology changes, the story is almost always the same each time.

I told my sister my plan. “I want to see all your assignments,” I said. “Show me everything you’re doing so I can use the examples when we present to parents.”

After asking and asking, she one day said, “I really don’t know what you want to see. We just download our PowerPoints from Dropbox and read them on the iPad.”

I was shocked. How could they not use the iPad for note-taking, personalizing their experience, and engaging in more visual patient education in their clinics? Over the next few years, I taught her many tips and tricks, which she took back to her friends, colleagues, and administrators.

Every student worked with a group during her last semester to do a capstone project. They had to identify a challenge they had seen in the community and design a solution they would implement. Begrudgingly, she and all the other students in her group engaged. One day, they were at my house working on their project and discussing how it was a waste of time. They would rather be studying for boards and focusing on applying for jobs. As they explained their project, I needed clarification and politely interrupted.

“This could be the crown jewel of your resume and make you stand out when applying for jobs!” As they laughed, I continued. “Tell me about your project.”

They shared how their challenge was childhood obesity and that their solution was a poster they would present to a group of fifth graders at a school in south central Los Angeles.

Now, it was my turn to laugh. “Do you think a poster is going to motivate kids to be healthier?” Instead, I proposed that they borrow a set of iPads and create an iBook with which kids could read and interact with. As I shared the features, the ideas started flowing. One of the girls in the group shared how her fiancé, a fitness coach, could make videos. Another member was intrigued by the interactive tap features and was inspired to make a healthy plate game. Another asked, “What if the kids could measure their hands to determine portion sizes?”

The ideas kept flowing, and the list of possibilities continued.

The result?

They were motivated, excited, and went from thinking this project was a waste of time to making time to create this program. In other words, they had found alignment with their purpose that motivated them.

When they presented their project to the class, they listed my name as a community partner. The director of the program, Dr. Kevin Lohenry, was blown away. “I had no idea you could do all this with iPads. If this is how kids in 5th grade learn, we need to change our teaching and learning methods. Otherwise, we won’t be able to recruit the best and brightest students and will soon become irrelevant.” He told my sister to have me call him. After a few interviews and conversations, I was hired as Director of Innovative Learning for the program.

What started as a dining table conversation became the spark for a community I had wanted to be a part of–Apple Distinguished Educators (ADE). I didn’t make it the first time round. And when I tried again a second time (because our first try is never our last try) I made it and had the privilege of sharing this story on stage in front of that very community. This is also where I would meet the incredible Ann Kozma as we both became ADE’s in 2015 and the best of friends.

This small shift had a huge impact. What happens when our schools speak the language of learning aligned to purpose? Are we doing this? Or are we languishing in old models that don’t speak to where students are and where educators want to be in an age of high technology. Fostering alignment is a powerful way to ensure we are bridging the gap between students and educators, uniting them in a common understanding and purpose. The result is more cohesive, engaging, and effective educational experience for all. Inside and outside the classroom. The stories we create from the experiences we design each act as a dot that later connects in the most serendipitous of ways. There are those we work with in our buildings, and then there are those we work with online. Which brings us to the last and most important quality that will make you irreplaceable–engaging and leading communities.

Quality #5
You Engage and Lead Communities

In a world where change is the only constant, irreplaceable educators understand that they cannot wait for others to dictate their professional growth. They take ownership of their own learning and leadership, actively seeking out opportunities to expand their knowledge, skills, and impact. These educators don’t rely solely on mandated professional development days or district-provided training. While they may participate in and benefit from these formal learning opportunities, they also create their own informal and self-directed learning experiences.

For example, an irreplaceable educator might identify a new instructional strategy or technology tool they want to learn more about. Instead of waiting for a workshop or seminar on the topic, they dive in and start exploring on their own. They read articles, watch tutorials, connect with other educators who are using the strategy or tool, and experiment with implementing it in their own classroom.

As they gain expertise, irreplaceable educators don’t keep their learning to themselves. They share their insights and experiences with their colleagues, becoming peer educators and leaders in their school community. They might lead a workshop, write a blog post, or simply engage in a hallway conversation about what they’ve learned and how it’s impacting their practice.

This proactive, collaborative approach to professional learning creates a culture of continuous growth and innovation in schools. When educators take the lead in their own development, they model the kind of lifelong learning and leadership that we want to cultivate in our students. In an AI-driven world, where the skills and knowledge needed for success are constantly evolving, the ability to be a proactive learner and leader is more critical than ever. Irreplaceable educators understand that they cannot rely on a fixed set of competencies or credentials. They must continually update and expand their expertise to keep pace with the changing landscape of education and work.

By being proactive learners and leaders, irreplaceable educators not only ensure their own relevance and impact, but also help their schools and communities adapt and thrive in the face of unprecedented change. They demonstrate that the most powerful learning and leadership happens not in isolation, but in collaboration with others who share a commitment to growth and excellence.

Learning these skills isn’t just for young people. It’s for us as well.

Taking Control: The Educator as a
Learning Futurist

These five qualities help educators identify gaps, foster collaboration, maintain motivation, and sometimes, create new roles, highlighting their irreplaceable value in the educational ecosystem. These educators signal to policy makers and the world that we are not merely perceived cogs in the educational machinery. We are irreplaceable linchpins inside our schools, our communities, and our world that you cannot do without.

Moreover, by embodying these qualities, educators not only enhance their professional capabilities but also build influential personal brands that open doors to limitless opportunities, both within and beyond the classroom walls. This recognition echoes a profound shift from past industrial revolutions: true leaders are distinguished not by their titles, but by their ideas and their impact.

As educators, embracing the role of a learning futurist starts with a commitment to your own professional growth. For me, it was not waiting for others to provide the next learning opportunity or guide my development that transformed my career. Instead, it was my proactive stance in educating myself about existing and emerging trends that allowed me to step beyond traditional roles and into realms I had never imagined.

Yet this change in how I learn required me to overcome another change I had been resistant towards: social media. I know it’s hard to believe, isn’t it? Earlier I shared how much I had learned about iPads at my first CUE Conference. I was fascinated by how I had learned. It was from other educators who were presenting at the conference, all of whom seemed to know each other. It almost felt as if I had walked into someone else’s home during a party. It was here I learned that they all knew each other because they were connected online. This conference inspired me to want to pursue this path as well. And so, the following year I would apply to present to the EdTecheducator iPad Conference, and I got accepted!

Except…

I got an email with a Twitter notification, and it said: #FF to our iPad Summit Presenters, and then our names were tagged. I had no idea how to respond. I quickly Googled, “What does #FF mean?” As I learned that it meant “Follow Friday,” I realized I was, in some ways, illiterate. These new technologies were not just avenues for learning content. They were avenues for learning new ways of learning, sharing, and working to open doors to new streams of income.

This experience has placed a permanent question in the back of my mind as I do this work: what happens when some people have access and exposure to these experiences and others don’t. My personal beliefs, or more assumptions, about technology not only could have prevented my students from new opportunities, but they almost prevented me from having access to them as well.

That was the beginning of my journey into building an online presence. And a promise to lead with data, not assumptions.

By taking control of my learning journey, I moved away from defining myself by my degree and job title and began defining myself through my values, strengths and skills. As a result, I was able to transition from being a history educator to creating entirely new positions for myself. This proactive approach didn’t just open doors—it created them. My ability to stay ahead of educational trends and apply my skills in innovative ways led to opportunities that were once unimaginable in the scope of traditional teaching roles. For instance, sharing my ideas and practices not only impacted my students and colleagues but also extended my influence beyond the classroom. This visibility is what led to my recruitment by Apple as an Education Executive, a role that was a far cry from where I began.

These experiences are why I believe this has to be your first power move. When you begin with your skills and strengths and continuously find spaces where you can contribute, you do more than just prepare for a job—you create new opportunities for others and for yourself.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase stated:

Skills are far more important than having a college degree for many jobs. If you look at the skills of people, it is amazing how skilled people are in something, but it didn’t show up in their resume. We have eliminated degree requirements for most jobs at the bank and pivoted toward more skills-based hiring.

This isn’t a new concept. However moving forward if we are to guide young people as they navigate their world it is one that shouldn’t be optional.

This mindset shift—from being a passive recipient of professional development to an active seeker of knowledge—enables you to transform challenges into chances to lead and innovate. It teaches that we don’t simply graduate to find a job. We learn, adapt, and apply our abilities in ways that create paths not only for ourselves but also for those we teach.

As educators, when you lean into your expertise and curiosity, you become architects of your own careers and lead the future of our profession. And because we are preparing those who will step into established and new professions, as a result you contribute to every other profession as well. You demonstrate that learning is not just about acquiring knowledge for predefined roles but about continuously adapting and applying skills to navigate and shape the future. This journey of continuous self-directed learning and application is what epitomizes a learning futurist. It’s about seeing beyond the current educational paradigms and recognizing that our role as educators is to prepare ourselves—and our students—for a world of endless opportunities and challenges.

As a learning futurist, in 2017 I found myself wondering: Knowing what I know now, how different would my experience be if I went back to school as a student?

Light Your SPARK #3: What Is Your Human Advantage?

Let’s identify and articulate your unique strengths and interests, understanding how they can guide your personal and professional journey.

Here’s How:

Quick Reflection: Think of moments you felt truly engaged. What were you doing?

List & Link: List your top 3 strengths and top 3 interests on the next page. Share the first things that come to mind. Now ask a friend, colleague or family member and ask them to share what they think your top 3 strengths are and why. The why is the most important part. This is where they will tell you a story that you likely didn’t even think twice about. To us our strengths are no big deal, but to others the impact can be life changing. You need to know these, you need to remember these, so let’s write them down.

Connect the Dots: Did you notice any patterns or connections between your strengths and interests?

Define Your Edge: In one sentence, capture your human advantage. For example, “My curiosity and creativity turn challenges into innovative solutions.” Then add a story about how. This is your forever reminder in moments of doubt and the story you tell yourself when that voice in your head tells you otherwise.

Look Ahead: Think of one way to use your human advantage in your current or future endeavors.

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Edge,” a specialized GPT—here to help you find your human advantage and what makes you stand out. Access Edge and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Chapter 3
The Uninvited Guests

I’ve spent the last decade examining the methods and mindsets that can help us navigate existing and emerging technologies so that we can navigate the moment we are living through now and those that are to come. I’m not a fortune teller, but I have had a finger on the pulse of technological change for my entire career. So, I am confident in predicting that the reach of AI and technology is deeper than most people imagine. How do I know? I’ve been one of the many millions who graduated feeling unprepared, forced to navigate a career in an increasingly technologically driven world.

You might be surprised to learn that the answer isn’t simply learning how to get better at using technology. As you read, you might find yourself wishing that was the answer. The answer lies in getting better at understanding one another and in creating cultures of innovation that begin with and are built on empathy. While technology can enhance our ability to do this, it alone cannot help us solve the challenges of today, to unlock the promise of tomorrow. A promise of shared prosperity where every individual has the knowledge, skills, and disposition to innovate, create new products, services, and business models that lead to a more just and equitable society.

Artificial intelligence has dominated the conversation in likely every industry since November 2022. Every organization is working to make this a priority. Unlike previous technologies that are carefully adopted and molded to fit into the existing system, generative AI arrived at everyone’s doors, the uninvited guest that created a permanent seat for itself at the table and forced change upon a system we’ve all grown accustomed to.

During the pandemic and in the years that followed, for the first time in a long time, the entire world was engaged in an honest conversation where hard questions were asked, and a promise made: We will not go back to what we did. We will create a new normal.

When the emotional dust settled and the health crisis died down, we retracted into our comfort zones, and now we are left with one of the hardest questions of all: Should we have been better prepared for AI?

Unlike other types of AI, the kind that quietly runs in the background sharing predictions about what the next word will be, to what the next movie is we should watch, or the next purchase we should make, generative AI wanted to make an appearance and be known.

In November of 2022 when ChatGPT was knocking on the door, skyrocketing to 100 million users in its first two months, people were messaging me saying isn’t this what your research and documentary was about? Can you come and speak to our leadership teams about AI and what we can do to be prepared?

They were right. In 2018, I went back to school to examine this question: Can design thinking be used as one approach to making us irreplaceable in The Second Machine Age?

My curiosities saw their return on investment.

The Second Machine Age is a book that put AI on my radar back in 2014 as our next inflection point. The authors define it as a new age in which machines are replacing human brain power, and they contrast this with a first period of industrialization in which machines replaced human and animal muscle-power. The book closed by saying:

Technology is not destiny. We shape our destiny.

And I believe the answer to how we shape our destiny is design thinking.

In this book, we’ll refer to the last inflection point as the launch of the iPhone in 2007 that ushered in the app economy and rise of mobility. It changed how we work, how we learn, how we communicate, and democratized our ability to access multiple revenue streams.

In 2007, I was a student who graduated with little knowledge of existing and emerging technologies and how they apply to academic and professional settings. To many of the adults around me, I was likely seen as a digital native. I had a phone; I had a laptop; I had a Facebook account. While I was using technology in my personal life, I had little understanding of how to use it to solve problems even though my educators might have assumed I was a digital native, a term coined in 2001 by Marc Prensky for people born after 1980 who have always known the existence of digital tools. Over a decade after this initial work, Watson11 and Koutropoulos12 both called into question the generalizability of Prensky’s claims.13 After studying three universities in Malaysia, South Korea, and the UK, Watson asserted that a single profile of a digital native does not exist. Depending on the student’s culture, prior experience, nationality, and economic status, their use of technology to support their learning varied widely. Additionally, many digital natives lack the literacy, information-seeking, and problem-solving skills that they need to take advantage of technological advancements in society.

The rapid advancement of generative AI tools, sparked by the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, has brought the concept of intelligence to the forefront of our collective consciousness. Stephen Hawking shares one definition: “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”14

As artificial intelligence continues to evolve and reshape our lives, I believe it’s the ability to adapt that sets people apart. Machines can complement our skills and capabilities, enabling us to do things better and to do better things–to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

And design thinking methods and mindsets are what will help us get there.

In 2024 LinkedIn shared the #1 skill was “adaptability.”

To do this, machines need what I call your human SPARK.

The methods and mindsets we employ to navigate change and uncertainty are the keys to not just surviving but thriving in this new landscape. Our ability to adapt, to have the resilience and flexibility to face discomfort head-on, learn from it, and allow it to fuel our growth, will be our human advantage in an AI-driven world.

Discovering the opportunities for collaboration and innovation at the intersection of human and artificial intelligence, and helping the next generation learn this, is where we can truly align with why we became educators: to make a difference, to inspire and empower our students to reach their full potential in a world that’s rapidly evolving.

Earlier you met Robyn in California who believed that creativity is not optional. Now I invite you to travel with me to Arizona to meet the woman who inspired me to keep going when I doubted whether anyone would care about this book.

Story: It’s Never Too Late to Learn

Meet Tara Menghini, a K-6 education technology educator.

“I was 50 years old, teaching second grade, when a favorite former principal asked me to join the staff as the ed-tech educator at the gifted academy she was leading. I didn’t know much about technology and was pretty sure I wasn’t qualified to teach it to gifted kids. But she assured me I was the person for the job. The learning curve was huge. I had never coded or built a robot. I couldn’t even identify half of the equipment on the shelves of my new classroom. I decided not to hide these facts from my students. I went from being an expert in all things second grade and having ready answers to saying things like, ‘I don’t know, let’s explore together!’ I modeled to my kids that any of us can learn and grow at any age. We muddled, we iterated, we failed, and we succeeded. And in that messiness and vulnerability, I found magic. Technology changes quickly, and the tools we use in the classroom today will be outdated in a few years. It isn’t about the actual tools; I knew about mindset. I pulled from the things I knew I did well. Though I didn’t know about coding, I did know how to build relationships and how to engage learners. I decided to use my strengths and my weaknesses to my advantage. Exploring together, persevering through problems, letting students see me struggle, and boldly making mistakes showed them that it wasn’t scary. Admitting when I was stumped and, at times, learning from them, empowered them. They learned creative confidence and that it was ok to not know, to fail, to ask questions, and to try different ways of finding answers. It took a lot of hard work. I had to engage in new explorations every day. I had to be present and curious. I got good at asking for help. I let go of the feeling that I had to do it all by myself. As a result, I opened up a new culture where everyone learns—both adults and kids.

By the way, I am still learning every day.

As Tara Menghini demonstrated through her willingness to embrace new challenges and continuously learn, she embodied Stephen Hawking’s assertion that “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” This adaptability is not just crucial for individuals but is increasingly a characteristic of the machines that are becoming an integral part of our lives.

Shared Intelligence:
The Human-Machine Collaboration

Ultimately, our intelligence lies in our resilience—our ability to face discomfort head-on, learn from it, and allow it to fuel our growth. By cultivating adaptability, we tap into our human advantage. In the chapters ahead, I invite you to discover how design thinking, a method and a mindset, can give us the tools to do just that, empowering us to not only embrace change, but to use it to our advantage to become learning futurists who are architects of transformation in education and beyond.

Intelligence, once considered the unique hallmark of humanity, is no longer solely our domain as machines now exhibit forms of intelligence too. For centuries, humans have endeavored to advance their intelligence. It is one of the basic tenets of our survival. In fact, the term “homo sapiens,” translates to “wise humans,” reflecting the significance we place on wisdom and knowledge.

Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish physician and zoologist, encapsulated this idea of the wisdom that is inherent in the human species in 1758 with his hierarchical classification in Systema Naturae, which placed humans at the pinnacle due to our cognitive abilities.

This emphasis on intelligence has been a driving force behind educational institutions. Across the globe, the indispensable role of education has been universally acknowledged, leading to its compulsory status in nearly every country but four. This universal mandate underscores a profound commitment to fostering equal and equitable opportunities for all. Reflecting on our collective journey, it becomes evident that individuals devote a substantial portion of their lives to educational pursuits. In the U.S., education can start in pre-kindergarten years with early childcare programs emphasizing a strong educational component.

Society’s investment in education is monumental, with billions of life years and trillions of dollars dedicated to enhancing human intelligence, all aimed at elevating the quality of human life and advancing our species.

Through the ages, our innate intelligence has spurred the creation of tools that extend our capabilities and reshape our world. The advent of the earliest stone tools marked a significant evolutionary leap, empowering our ancestors to hunt, cut, and process food more efficiently. These innovations combined to spark a dietary and lifestyle transformation that laid the groundwork for the development of civilization. Later, the introduction of agricultural implements like plows together with farming systems like irrigation and seed-saving revolutionized food production, catalyzing the formation of stable communities and the rise of complex societies. This was all the result of humanity’s ability to innovate, create, and grow intellectually.

World-shaking innovations have marked our time on the planet from the start, improving both the way we live and the ways we share and expand our knowledge. For example, the impact of the printing press in the 15th century, invented by Johannes Gutenberg, was transformative. It democratized knowledge, expanded the reach of literacy, and played a crucial role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the progression of the Reformation. As we ventured into the Industrial Revolution, the creation of groundbreaking machinery such as the steam engine, spinning jenny, and power loom revolutionized manufacturing processes and stimulated unprecedented economic growth.

The shift towards industrialization in the late 1700s began blending traditional agricultural lifestyles with emerging industrial demands, laying the groundwork for modern schooling. This period saw the gradual introduction of basic literacy skills necessary for commerce, as society began to pivot from farming to factory work.

As labor moved from farms to factories during the Second Industrial Era, the need for a structured education system became apparent. The National Education Association’s Committee of Ten, led by notable figures like Charles W. Eliot and William Harris, shaped the future of public schooling by advocating for a standardized curriculum. This model aimed to equip students uniformly, regardless of their future paths, reflecting the industrial values of equality, efficiency, and workforce preparation.

The push for a standardized educational system was driven by the need to educate a rapidly growing urban population, including immigrants. This era of mass schooling, born out of the Progressive Era, required a shift from the one-room schoolhouses of the past to a more structured educational framework capable of supporting an industrialized workforce. The prevailing educational theories supported this shift towards efficiency, heavily influenced by the Taylorist management principles of optimizing productivity.

The factory model of education, though now criticized, was a practical response to the industrial needs of the time, focusing on imparting necessary skills for factory work. Despite the revolutionary ideas of educators like John Dewey, who advocated for a more engaged and problem-solving oriented education, the standardized approach dominated due to its alignment with societal and economic demands of the era.

This structured approach to education not only aimed to streamline teaching and learning but also mirrored the broader industrial values shaping society at the time. It established a foundation that would influence educational practices for decades, demonstrating that significant systemic change is possible when societal values and leadership converge toward a common goal.

As we think about the impact of our choices and innovations we must pause and ask: Who did this benefit? Who was invited to the conversation? Who was ignored?

While we celebrate the innovations, each of them came at a cost to people across other societies. The rise of industrialization brought light, power, and speed to some, and left others colonized, deprived, and created the conditions for a world that would grow more divided by the day. The choices we make now, the values we agree on, the decisions we make will determine whether our world heals or whether we continue to rip it apart.

The questions surrounding ethics and integrity travel far beyond who wrote the essay and who did the tool hallucinate.

A quote Bruce would often bring me back to during our conversations was by Thomas Pynchon:

If they get you asking the wrong questions, they never have to worry about the answers.15

Manifest Your Inner SPARK

Say this with me:

I embrace the discomfort of change, recognizing it as the catalyst for growth and innovation. As an educator, I am uniquely positioned to shape the future. I see the hidden strengths in others and guide them towards realizing their potential. I align resources and individuals to foster empowerment and progress. I stay attuned to current and emerging trends, using this knowledge to educate and inspire. I am a bridge between what is and what can be.

Through my actions and influence, I manifest a world built on the foundations of justice, compassion, and human dignity. My thoughts and deeds are powerful tools in crafting the future I envision, one student, one change at a time.

Chapter 4
The Call to Adventure

Reflecting on my journey, I see how my experiences mirrored a larger shift in the world of education–a shift from traditional, one-size-fits-all models to a need for more dynamic, personalized learning. This shift aligns with the rapid advancements in technology and the evolving demands of the job market in the age of AI. My personal story is not just mine but echoes the experiences of many educators and students grappling with an education system struggling to keep pace with these changes.

Educators often feel that they are being told what to teach and how to teach. That’s the basis of the traditional system where teaching is homogenous and prescribed. Design thinking frees educators to be “artists” as Seth Godin would say, allowing their creativity and collaboration with their students and colleagues to shape learning in exciting new ways.

My growing understanding of the need for innovative and empathetic approaches in education was about to take a more concrete form. At this point in my life, when I met a new challenge, my first reaction was concern. After all, I had just started my position as Director of Innovative Learning at USC in 2014. I was the one who had taken geology as my science requirement because I disliked science so much. As a high school history educator, how would I help this healthcare program when I didn’t even understand the content?

What I would soon realize was that I didn’t need to. Once again, it was an educator who saw qualities in me that I didn’t see in myself, giving me the confidence to take on new challenges and opportunities. Again it would be another leader, this time Dr. Kevin Lohenry, who created the conditions for me and others to lead from our strengths.

I spent the first few months observing the classes, in awe of the obedience and restraint students showed in sitting through hours upon hours of lecture with an occasional pause before the break to ask, “Any questions?”

Where is the formative assessment, I wondered.

A few months into the new role, I traveled with the faculty members to their annual Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) conference. There, we had an opportunity to learn more about each other over dinners and in sessions. When we returned, those relationships turned into informal conversations where people began sharing their frustrations, ideas, hopes, and dreams. As someone obsessed with iPads, I often said, “Did you know you could do…”

Those informal conversations turned into planning documents that became learning experiences. It was incredible to watch how faculty were adopting their unique approaches to instruction with technology. But what surprised me more was the agency they were demonstrating as they took ownership of the implementation and execution.

An example of this phenomenon of students taking ownership could be found in the educator, Jennifer Ramos, who invited medical students to use Seesaw, a learning platform for students. The app offers a host of tools to help students think about a particular topic or activity and communicate their insights with other students and with teachers. Even the teacher underestimated how powerful this technology would ultimately be for her class. She thought it would merely serve as a blog where students could share what they were learning. The students used this technology to take their learning to the next level by creating songs, concept maps, shooting videos, and drawing cartoons that helped them understand and talk about the diseases they were studying. The greatest gain from the technology was the way it allowed students to take ownership of the learning space and create with and for each other. This allowed learning to be enjoyable, engaging, exciting, and creative.

Another professor, Christopher Forest, had established the practice of assigning a 40-page paper to students in conjunction with a unit on empathy in healthcare. The topic was a critical one in their collegiate students because students were being tasked with figuring out ways to develop empathy with the communities they would serve during their clinical rotations. But the paper was a daunting assignment and, as a result, many students simply turned to Google to get the answers to the questions the research paper asked them to consider. To expand the impact of this assignment, we invited the students to go into the various communities and conduct interviews with the people there. This was accomplished by changing the prompt of the assignment. The old prompt simply said: Write a 40-page research paper covering a list of characteristics about the community.

The new prompt said: If this community could give a message to healthcare professionals, what would that message be? Google couldn’t provide the answer to that question. And today ChatGPT couldn’t either–although it would try.

Only by reaching out to actual people were they able to discover what the community wanted to say and, thereby, grow in empathy for them. Students engaged the community directly and understood more about their field than any Google search could have taught them. In fact as one group shared:

When we were first researching on Google, we thought the community had a lot of crime and would be dangerous, but when we started meeting people, we found the opposite–people were kind, there for each other, and it was such a tight knit community, and it was a very different sense than what we read online.

Once again we saw students go above and beyond what was expected. They were speaking and visiting more people than the assignment had required, they were placing themselves in the shoes of their patients to experience what it’s like if you need to go to the emergency room, and so much more. Throughout the experience their empathy was growing as they discovered what they went in thinking was often challenged by what they were hearing and seeing. To see these students in action,scan the QR code or visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=P79I0tfcelE.

This was something I hadn’t experienced at Fairmont. And had I never attended a session with Stacey Lamb and Kelly Eveleth, two first grade teachers we might not have experienced it at USC either.

You see, while we had a few people who were enthusiastic at Fairmont, we struggled to scale.

I would soon learn to articulate why this was the case–it was because I had started with technology, not with people.

When We Begin with Empathy

While scrolling Twitter (now X), I saw a link to an event being hosted by the World Economic Forum and saw a panel called Technology-Driven, Human Centered. It was here I learned about the research of Erik Brynjolfsson, and the line he spoke that would keep me up at night:

What is this AI going to do? What’s technology going to do to us? What’s it going to do to jobs in society? And while that’s an important question, I think in many ways it’s the wrong question because technology doesn’t decide what we’re doing. Technology is not destiny. We shape our destiny.

I was left wondering how might we shape our destiny. How do I shape my destiny?

A few weeks later, I attended one of my favorite types of conferences, an EdCamp. In 2015, I walked into a session that would change how I viewed education and the world. This is where I met Stacy and Kelly. They shared how they used a method called design thinking and the different stages of the process—empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, and iterate. What resonated deeply was the idea of empathy and how they used it to teach literacy.

They asked us, “How many of you read books to your kids? How many of you have been read to as a child?” They shared a classroom example where they had asked their students to read a book called Catch That Rat and shared how they applied the design thinking process to a simple story time segment. Instead of just having the students read, they had them choose a character to empathize with.

For example, if students chose the rat, their task was to think about the story from the rat’s perspective. How did it feel, what might it be thinking, what was it doing, and what was it seeing? Even though everyone in the story was trying to catch “the bad guy” (the rat) the children could connect with the rat’s emotion, understanding that it was feeling just as scared by the humans as the humans were by it. They could think about whether it was just hungry and wanted food.

Then they defined the problem and ideated how they could solve the challenge.

A prototype they created had the students fashion a machine made of a paper towel roll and foil where the human came in one way and out the other side as a rat and vice versa, so each could experience how the other felt.

This example highlights learning experiences that are designed to merge knowledge, skills, and dispositions

I was in awe. A simple reframing of a common activity had a transformative impact and completely changed the experience. What resonated deeply was how the idea of empathy made this model unique from all others. This method, design thinking, had the power to shape our destiny.

At that moment, it all clicked together. This was the fundamental difference in agency and ownership that I had experienced between Fairmont and USC. At Fairmont, we told people what to use and how to use it. Despite our enthusiasm, we were severely lacking in empathy. Each week we would share an app that we were excited about, one that we had found to be helpful in our classes. What we failed to do was ask our audience what their needs were. As a result, we were sharing solutions in search of a problem.

At USC, because I didn’t know enough to tell them how to do what they should do with technology, we began with their frustrations, challenges, past failures, and hopes and dreams. Through this experience, I realized that cultures of innovation begin with a culture of empathy.

As I navigated my professional hurdles, it became increasingly clear that the challenges I faced were not isolated incidents but symptoms of a larger systemic issue in education. The rigidity and resistance to change within the educational system, which I had experienced both as a student and an educator, underscored a pressing need for reform

These experiences catalyzed my transition from an educator to an advocate for change. I began envisioning a more adaptable education system, where innovation wasn’t just a buzzword but a practical necessity that had to begin with empathy. It was a vision where technology was integrated seamlessly, not just as a tool but as a fundamental part of how we work and learn, reflective of the changing world around us.

Amid technological revolutions in various sectors, it was apparent that education could no longer afford to lag. The advancements I saw in technology, contrasted with the stagnation in educational practices, inspired me to bridge this gap by exploring and advocating for educational models that are adaptive, future-focused, and designed to prepare students to connect historical knowledge with present challenges and future opportunities

The bottom line was clear: design thinking can lead to deeper learning experiences that connect education with real-world opportunities. That’s the kind of change we can all advocate for.

Chapter 5
Make Teaching
the Best Job Ever

In my experience, moments of creative and empathetic learning were rare but transformative, marking a stark contrast with the rigid confines of my education when I first moved to California. These experiences began to plant the seeds of a new approach in my mind–one grounded in design thinking principles, with empathy at its core.

As Stacy says, “Educators around the world are inherent design thinkers who recognize the special power empathy brings in its ability to connect educator and learner in positive ways.”

They recognize their role as catalysts for future innovators, creators, and citizens. Dr. Fei-Fei Lee’s book The Worlds I See perfectly pinpoints this important, impactful role of an educator. She tells the story of emigrating to the U. S. and ending up in New Jersey. There she met the man to whom she dedicated her book, Bob Sabella. She said this is of the man whose empathy changed the education game for her:

The reason he’s so special is he’s your everyday American public high school educator. He’s not unique in that sense… He was my first math educator. I had to take a placement test and didn’t speak English, so he had to deal with the troubled ESL kid. Eventually, he became my calculus educator… He was the most generous, compassionate, and tough-love educator. He recognized my challenge… He recognized my loneliness. He recognized I needed help. He really took me under his wings… We became friends, and we talked about math. But we also talked about literature, science, sci-fi… He took me to his home, and his wife embraced me… They became my American family… For me, America means [a] public high school math educator who had the most fundamental value of generosity, kindness, and integrity.16

My path to empathy started with self-reflection and understanding my experiences as a student and an educator. This introspection allowed me to recognize the unique challenges and emotions of learning and teaching. It was a process of asking questions, of seeking to understand before seeking to be understood. Empathy enabled me to connect with students on a deeper level. I learned to look beyond the surface of standardized tests and rigid curricula and to listen to what my students were saying–and what they were not saying. It involved envisioning a learning environment responsive to their needs, interests, and aspirations, one where each student felt seen and heard. This empathetic approach also extended to my colleagues, understanding their struggles and aspirations within the educational landscape. It meant stepping into the shoes of others, be it students, parents, or fellow educators, and viewing the educational process through their eyes. This perspective was crucial in shaping a learning environment that was inclusive, dynamic, and responsive to the diverse needs of all stakeholders.

As we’ll discuss in our next chapter, this is what makes design thinking unique, that it begins with empathy. As I learned more about the concept of design thinking, I discovered its other facets–ideation, prototyping, testing, and iterating. Each stage offered a new lens to view the educational process, transforming it from a linear, one-directional flow of information into a dynamic, interactive journey of discovery and creation.

This understanding of design thinking, rooted in empathy and bolstered by creative problem-solving, began to shape my vision of what education could be. It was a vision of classrooms as workshops of innovation, where students and educators collaborate, where ideas are tested and refined, and where learning is a continuous, ever-evolving process that brings joy through perseverance.

Design thinking can shape your vision too. You see, in education, we’ve often found ourselves entrenched in the grind, accustomed to the relentless cycle of standards and assessments. And we do so without question, discussion, or any significant pushback. It’s considered normal. Yet, when Seth Godin explored what transforms a job into the best job ever across ten thousand people in ninety countries, the answers painted a vivid picture of potential and fulfillment. People shared that the best conditions arose when they surprised themselves with their accomplishments, had the autonomy to work independently, contributed to meaningful projects, and were treated with respect.

This revelation holds a mirror to the world of education, reminding us that educators, too, yearn for these very conditions. It challenges us to step back and reevaluate our approach, to ask ourselves if we’re creating an environment where educators can truly thrive.

Are we providing the space for educators to astonish themselves with what they can achieve, both personally and with their students?

Do we encourage autonomy, allowing educators to bring their unique insights and passions into the classroom?

Are we fostering a sense of teamwork, building something impactful together?

Do we treat each other with the respect and dignity that every individual deserves?

The qualities of an irreplaceable educator that we’ve explored–helping students identify their strengths, transforming challenges into growth opportunities, recognizing emerging trends, creating a shared language of learning, and being proactive learners and leaders–are not just aspirations. They are innate human capacities that you, as an educator, already possess. What you need is an environment and a framework that empowers you to fully embody and express these qualities. That’s where the principles of design thinking come in.

This approach is not about giving you new skills from scratch; they’re about unlocking the potential you already have. They provide a structure and a mindset that allow you to tap into your creativity, empathy, and problem-solving abilities in new and powerful ways.

As educators we have a collective design challenge society must solve for: How might we make teaching “the best job ever?”

To truly shape the future, we need to reclaim our role, ensuring it’s universally acknowledged for its profound impact and inherent value. This requires us to advocate for ourselves, leading with courage and creativity, to transform educational landscapes. By uniting in our efforts and demonstrating the unmatched value we bring to society, we make “the best job ever” a celebrated reality, not just for us but for future generations of educators.

Educators S.H.A.P.E. the Future

Essentially, with a design thinking mindset the five qualities that make us irreplaceable will be why we are the ones who will SHAPE the future. To summarize here’s why.

S: Spark

You help spark students’ strengths by fostering an environment where every talent is seen and nurtured.

H: Highlight

You highlight existing and emerging trends by bridging the gap between content and real-world relevance, preparing students for a future where change is the only constant.

A: Align

You create alignment by creating a shared language of learning, uniting students and educators in understanding and purpose.

P: Persevere

You exemplify perseverance by turning every obstacle into an opportunity, making it a teachable moment, because you know that resilience is at the heart of learning and leading.

E: Engage

You engage by embracing lifelong learning alongside an interdisciplinary community, shaping yourself as a leader known for their influence and impact.

This mindset gets to the heart of why you became an educator in the first place–to make a difference, to inspire, to shape lives and futures. By approaching this challenge with a design mindset, rooted in first principles, you can rediscover and reinvent the joy, purpose, and impact of your work.

The design thinking practices you will learn in this book build on your human advantage. They give you the tools to fuse your irreplaceable human touch with the most innovative technologies and ideas. They empower you to cultivate in your students the same qualities that make you an irreplaceable educator: agency, adaptability, lifelong learning, and leadership.

In the chapters ahead, you’ll discover how to make these practices your own. You’ll learn how to create an environment where your innate capacities can flourish and where you and your students can develop the skills and mindsets they need to not just meet the future, but to create it. You’ll explore practical strategies and inspiring stories that will help you fall in love with teaching all over again and remind you why it truly is the best job ever. Because in the end, the true power of education lies not in any single tool or technique, but in the boundless potential of the human educators who bring it to life. And by embracing your role as a designer, a change-maker, and an irreplaceable human, you can tap into that potential like never before.

We Don’t Have To Do This Work Alone

Before November 2022, we often had to do this work alone. Today we can partner with AI tools to SPARK ideas. SPARK is my prompting framework designed to “prompt the human before the machine.” It’s grounded in empathy and is designed to help us articulate our thoughts, our challenges, and our ideas together so that we can then enlist the support of AI tools. Using the SPARK framework, you work through sharing your Situation, the Problem, your Aspiration, the Results, and finally Kismet, which is left to the AI tool.

S: Situation

The context under which you are working

P: Problem

The barrier that is standing in your way

A: Aspiration

Why this topic matters to you

R: Results

The outcomes you want to see and how you will know you were successful

K: Kismet

This is where you ask your AI tool for 3-4 ideas about getting started. This was inspired by my experience during the pandemic. Remember Ann? If you know her, you know what I mean when I say her energy and smile can light the entire world. If you don’t know her you can experience this by simply following her online @annkozma723. Few people can radiate that energy from a post or tweet. She is one of those rare people.

She was also one of my favorite people to run into and hangout with at conferences. It wasn’t until the pandemic I realized just how much we take for granted what it means to have other people in our lives. Those who we can brainstorm ideas with, those who we have hallway conversations with, and those who we share our deepest challenges with. It’s in those moments that someone will say something and it will spark an idea within you. During the pandemic we both attended a conference hosted by another one of our dear friends Vriti Saraf, co-founder of Ed3. Together, with her team, she’s building a community of educators by educators committed to onboarding 1 million educators into the world of education technology. She hosted a conference in the metaverse where my digital avatar and Ann’s digital avatar happened to cross paths. It will never replace what it’s like to be together in person. But damn it was really close.

This is the story that inspired the K for Kismet. For me, an AI tool will never replace that feeling I have when talking to another person. However, it can be a great substitute for when we need a thought partner and don’t have one available to simply share the idea or problem we are thinking about and to ask questions like:

What 3-4 ideas could I use to get started

Share a surprising element that I haven’t considered

What are my blindspots

Let’s stop talking about SPARK, and go and try it!

TRY IT. You can try this using MySPARK–a chatbot designed to feel as if we are having a conversation. Simply enter the challenge or idea you have and let me share some ideas with you. Within a few seconds, you’ll be given a set of next steps you can take.

For this reason, in their current state as of August, 2024, I believe most generative AI apps in education rob people of this opportunity. By immediately sharing a lesson plan generator, a quiz creator, or a drop down list of topic, standard, grade you rob people of asking: How can AI help me do…

We must begin by reconnecting with our hopes and dreams and the questions that start with “What if…”

We must prompt the human before we prompt the machine.

Far from being mere conduits of knowledge, educators are, in essence, architects of the future. And we no longer have to do this work alone. The greatest AI skill we can strengthen and teach to the next generation is to no longer allow impediments to stand in your way. You can generate ideas that you turn into impact at lightning speed, reducing the friction and gap between what you wish we could do and what you can do.

By doing so you model and empower those around you not just to adapt but to thrive, leveraging their innate human creativity and ingenuity. By fostering environments that encourage exploration, critical thinking, and innovation, you are strengthening the human qualities that AI cannot replicate.

This is how we avoid the substitution trap. The one we have been victim of in the past where technology is merely integrated into teaching practices without thoughtful consideration of its purpose and impact. The substitution trap occurs when educators employ the same traditional teaching methods using digital tools rather than leveraging technology to enhance learning experiences. For instance, instead of utilizing interactive simulations to facilitate deeper understanding, educators might simply replace textbooks with digital books, maintaining a passive learning environment. While substitution succeeds at bringing technology into the classroom, it comes with the risk of appearing progressive without truly committing. The substitution trap hampers transformative potential. This results in missed opportunities for meaningful learning experiences. Consequently, the substitution trap overlooks the potential for technology to foster active engagement, critical thinking, and collaboration among students.

There are many prompting frameworks available, and while many debate the importance of learning this skill, I believe it is essential. Your insights and experiences are there to direct your AI tools. You are the leader of the team. What makes SPARK unique is that it can be used with or without an AI tool. SPARK isn’t a technology practice; it’s a mindset practice. Instead of a predesigned app presenting you with options, you are setting your own criteria. At its core, this framework is designed to help you avoid the substitution trap because, as Don Norman shares, “A brilliant solution to the wrong problem is worse than no solution. So solve the right problem.”17

Above all, the SPARK framework embodies a key principle of The Second Machine Age: Technology is not destiny; we shape our destiny. We can only shape our destiny if we know what we want. Because SPARK prompts the human before the machine, it places humans in control of how they command technology. SPARK presents us with the opportunity to reflect on the barriers in front of us and why we care to solve them. It makes these conversations, and this way of thinking and working, the norm–not the exception.

As Seth Godin reminds us:

There’s no need to be a victim of a system that has outlived its usefulness. Instead, right here and right now, you have a chance to lead. To create the conditions for change. To enroll people in a journey that creates connections, dignity, and possibility.18

This is what it means to be human in a world with AI and other emerging technologies.

This is how you SPARK your human advantage.

As you read this, that voice might be screaming loudly again inside your head: this can never happen as it lists the many reasons you think we can’t do…

And this is where your AI team can help. We don’t need to have all the answers, but we do have to have a clear understanding of the problem we are trying to solve.

When testing the SPARK framework in my workshops, I noticed what researchers identify as “the associative theory of creativity”. This theory suggests that creativity arises from the combination of previously unrelated ideas or concepts. When exposed to an idea, our brains start to make connections and associations with other ideas, leading to the generation of new and creative ideas. In my workshops, participants evaluated the ideas that had just been generated by a machine. They would contextualize them; their conversations would lead to new ideas.

Failing to create the necessary time and space for the educator experience allows for assumptions to drive design rather than data. One example of the detrimental effects of not taking this approach is the widening gap between the classroom and careers of the future.

The Widening Gap Between Classrooms
and Careers

You’ve likely heard people tell you AI won’t ever replace teachers. And I’ve already shared the qualities that I believe will make us irreplaceable. However, it will replace what school looks like if things don’t change. The 2024 Work Trend Index published by Microsoft and LinkedIn revealed that 66% of leaders said they wouldn’t hire people who didn’t have AI skills. But in another Microsoft report looking at education, they found that 66% of leaders and educators were afraid that students would use AI tools to cheat on tests and papers. Similarly, over 50% of students worried that they might be accused of cheating.19

For a profession that prides itself on relationships as the foundation of what we do, this toxic environment of suspicion is counterproductive.

A study by Stanford shared:

For years, long before ChatGPT hit the scene, some 60 to 70 percent of students reported engaging in at least one “cheating” behavior during the previous month. That percentage stayed about the same or even decreased slightly in our 2023 surveys, when we added questions specific to new AI technologies, like ChatGPT, and how students are using it for school assignments.20

The reality is that students are often using these tools for social emotional support.

I am one of the 60-70% of students who cheated. During my last year at the University of California Irvine, I had all my credits and had a choice–graduate early or take more classes. I chose to take more classes. As I browsed the course catalog I came across a philosophy class. I had taken one during my first year and LOVED it. Let’s do that again I thought.

Wrong.

It felt like a completely different topic. I was lost, confused, and miserable. I was barely getting by with a “C” and then came the final paper. Desperate to do well and try to get myself back to an “A” I went to his office hours. This decision would ultimately be the reason he likely caught me. Before this, other than being a name on his roster that he called at the start of class, he likely had no idea who I was, what my skills were, let alone much else.

But office hours revealed my vulnerability–that I had no clue how to write the assignment. Leaving even more confused than when I first came to get help I bought a paper on the internet. And you can imagine what happened next. A permanent F on my transcript and a new mission to enroll in a class to make up the credits and not remove, but get a strikethrough on the previous course.

I did what I needed to and got the strikethrough and promised myself I would never be that kind of teacher. The assumptions we make about why people do what they do or the assumptions that act like termites, slowly erode away at the relationships between us inside schools. And this culture of assumptions isn’t new.

A similar presumption occurs when we assume that students are automatically comfortable with technology because they have grown up with phones and social media. Presuming that students are digital natives has been proven to be an incorrect assumption.

When we begin with sharing our challenges, hopes, and dreams, we create cultures of innovation that ground themselves in empathy. We see technology as one tool, able to solve those challenges and accelerate how we scale those challenges and achieve those hopes and dreams. Providing educators with the time and space to do this work isn’t just important so that they are irreplaceable. It’s essential for the economy and our sanity.

As highlighted by the research of Eric Hanushek, the impact of an educator extends far beyond the classroom walls. An educator in the top tenth percentile doesn’t just impart knowledge; they significantly enhance a student’s economic trajectory, adding up to $250,000 in lifetime earnings. This tangible measure underscores a profound truth: educators are wealth creators.21

Returning to First Principles

If we are to be successful in making teaching the best job ever, we can’t keep building on practices that are no longer serving our best interests and falling into the substitution trap. For decades, educators have had to act virtually alone in the monumental task of leading the world’s future leaders. We cannot and should not expect educators to do this work alone as they so often have. Merely purchasing more technology to make their lives easier is a substitution trap that might provide short-term relief but creates bigger long-term problems and mounting frustrations for educators and students. It bears repeating that creating brilliant solutions to the wrong problems is no solution at all.

When we set ambitious goals about what we want teaching and learning to look like, only then can AI tools and other innovations serve as valuable members of our team.

To break free from the substitution trap, we need to rethink our approach from the very foundation. One exercise you can practice is first principles thinking. Originally attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who emphasized understanding foundational propositions that stand alone, first principles thinking is about boiling down complex problems to their most basic, fundamental elements. It’s about peeling back the layers of what we take for granted and questioning from the ground up—much like analyzing a recipe to understand which ingredients are essential and why they matter, rather than just following the steps without questioning.

Why is first principles thinking crucial for us in education? Because it compels us to strip away the accumulated assumptions and habits that often cloud our judgment. It’s a way to clear the clutter, not by adding one more thing, but by removing what’s unnecessary and focusing on what’s truly fundamental. This method challenges us to ask:

What is the true purpose of learning?

Does school have to happen from 8:00am - 3:00pm?

What are the absolute basics needed for effective learning and teaching?

How can we rebuild our methods and tools around those essentials?

This approach isn’t just about tweaking around the edges; it’s about reimagining and reconstructing from the ground up. It’s about ensuring that every new tool or method we introduce genuinely adds value and enhances learning, rather than just adding to our already overwhelmed schedules. Incremental improvements have often left educators feeling burnt out and overwhelmed, unable to realize the full promise and potential of technology in classrooms.

Elon Musk and James Clear are among the modern proponents who champion first principles thinking to cut through conventional reasoning and uncover opportunities that others often overlook. Musk, for instance, rethought the cost of battery packs by dissecting them into their fundamental components—identifying cheaper ways to construct them based on the raw materials’ costs rather than simply accepting the soaring prices as given. Similarly, James Clear applies first principles thinking in habit formation, breaking down complex behaviors into basic, actionable steps that are easier to manage and execute, thus demystifying the process of personal change.

Design thinking invites us to look at the problem starting from the solution and moving back the steps necessary to reach that solution. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, touted a similar philosophy in a talk with students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He suggests that we can learn the way to do something and then “go back to first principles and ask yourself, ‘Given the conditions today, given my motivation, given the instruments, the tools, given how things have changed, how would I redo this? How would I invent this?’”22

It’s the right question to ask about education because so many of the conditions that were present when the public school system was designed have radically changed. Therefore, if you had to design a school today, how would you do it? Would you line students up in rows, hand out thick textbooks, and set up an A through F grading scale? Probably not. You would likely be energized—if not a bit intimidated—by the monumental task of creating something that aligns with “now.”

Huang asked that question of his company and concluded that, as CEO, he was the architect of the company and would have to decide what kind of corporate culture he would create. He went back to first principles at the age of 29 to design the conditions that were best for his employees to do their work. He made certain activities a priority for himself, like encouraging people all across the company to communicate with him directly, turning the organizational chart on its ear. He even asked his employees to share with him the top five issues, concerns, or ideas in their minds. The goal was to empower his team, give them autonomy, and ensure that they all knew he valued their input and trusted their ideas.

In my experience, most educators know that such an environment doesn’t exist in their schools. They don’t have easy, direct access to high-level decision makers. And if they shared what was truly on their minds, it might end up in their performance review. The school “organization” is hilly and bumpy, not flat like Huang’s company. As a result, educators tend to keep their heads down and just get through the school year.

When I worked as an educator, I never met my superintendent, much less shared my thoughts with him or her. I barely saw the principal outside of evaluations. Often, my colleagues and I worked in silos.

As we have seen through various scenarios, applying first principles allows us to challenge and rethink the longstanding barriers in our educational system. By focusing on first principles thinking, we are not just tweaking the edges but questioning and potentially changing the very fundamentals that have often been taken for granted. This method enables us to strip away unnecessary complexities and focus on what is essential, paving the way for transformative changes. As we move forward, we will apply this rigorous approach to dissect and address the persistent issues in education—those deep-rooted challenges that make you believe change isn’t possible. Using first principles and design thinking we’ll turn “We can’t…” into “How might we…”

Seymour Sarason, a professor of psychology at Yale, observed the increasing nature of the misalignment in schools. His observations pointed to a need to focus on the fundamental purpose of teaching and learning: to cultivate curiosity, critical thinking, and the ability to learn how to learn. Sarason’s advice for returning to first principles begins the conversation by asking, “So what do you mean by learning?”23

This question is critical to address for students and for educators as well, as they are often left out of the learning conversation. School, Sarason said, should be a place where everyone, adult and child, is a learner.

By stripping away the layers of complexity and tradition that have accumulated over time, can we rediscover the essence of learning? What does it mean to be an educator, and what does it mean to be a learner? What is the relationship between the two? Design thinking calls on everyone in the education space to be both a student and a learner. By doing so, we reap a number of benefits: 1) educators have empathy for the role of students as they act as learners themselves; 2) students have empathy for the role of educators as they act as educators themselves; 3) collaboration fosters more ideas among them.

First principles thinking is a powerful tool for educators seeking to make a lasting difference. It enables them to cut through the noise, focus on what matters most, and create learning experiences that prepare students for the future. It empowers educators to question assumptions, identify the most essential elements of their craft, and rebuild their approach from the ground up. It invites educators to ask: What do my students really need to know and be able to do? How can I create learning experiences that ignite their passion and potential? What are the most effective strategies for helping each individual grow? By returning to these core questions and building upward from a solid foundation, educators can design innovative solutions tailored to the unique needs of their students and communities. They can adapt nimbly to new challenges and opportunities, unencumbered by the weight of “the way things have always been done.”

In an era of increasing automation and artificial intelligence, the role of educators becomes more critical than ever. They stand at the forefront of this transformation, helping students to cultivate their originality, empathy, integrity, and ethical reasoning –the distinctly human qualities that will set them apart in an AI-driven economy.

Investing in our educators’ growth and development isn’t just a matter of educational excellence; it’s an economic imperative. Their role today transcends traditional teaching. It becomes a vital endeavor of wealth creation, both in terms of individual student outcomes and the collective economic benefits that ripple out from their classrooms. When we prioritize our educators, we invest in the long-term strength and resilience of our economy–one student at a time.

Light Your SPARK #4: The Best Job Ever

This exercise is an invitation to dream big, to identify what elements would make your job the best ever, and to recognize the steps you can take towards making this vision a reality. It’s about creating a job that not only challenges you but also celebrates your unique contributions and allows you to grow alongside those you inspire.

Here’s How:

Identify Key Elements: Take a moment to reflect on the aspects that would make your job incredibly satisfying. What qualities do you seek in your dream job?

Dream Job Wishlist: Write down 4-5 key elements that define your ideal job. These could range from creativity and innovation, the freedom to implement new ideas, recognition and respect from peers, to making a meaningful difference in others’ lives.

Barriers to Your Dream Job: For each element on your wishlist, briefly note any current barriers or challenges that prevent this aspect from being a reality in your job.

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Vida,” a specialized GPT—here to help you envision a work-life that is deeply fulfilling and meaningful. Access Vida and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Manifest Your Inner SPARK:
Community Connection

Say this with me:

I build from the ground up, grounded in first principles that guide my actions and decisions. In my sphere of influence, I create an environment that feels like the best job ever for everyone involved. I cultivate a space where creativity, trust, and respect flourish. Each day, I commit to understanding and addressing the unique needs and aspirations of those around me, ensuring they feel valued and integral to our shared success. By fostering a culture of collaboration and support, I empower others to bring their best selves to our collective endeavors. I recognize and nurture each person’s strengths, fostering an environment where everyone can thrive and feel their contributions are essential. Together, we transcend ordinary expectations, making our workplace not just functional but extraordinary.

Act 2
Make Teaching
the Best Job Ever Again

Chapter 6
Who Do You Want to Be

In 2018 as I began my doctoral program, one of the highlights was being able to travel and learn from education systems around the world. One of our case studies was Finland. Finland is well admired for its education system. In particular because people there feel they have the best job ever. The Finnish education system’s journey to success offers valuable lessons on the importance of investing in educator education and fostering a culture that values and respects the teaching profession.

Prior to visiting Finland, and based on my previous knowledge, I would have said that the top three reasons why their educational system is admired are: 1) play; 2) the autonomy everyone is given to do their work, be it faculty or students; and of course 3) their PISA scores. However, as I began to immerse myself into their culture, and speak with people about their experiences, I realized these elements that we see as success are byproducts of their values.

These elements are the outcomes, as a result of who they choose to be.

Finland’s journey to independence and its centennial celebrations align with themes of autonomy, trust, and national identity, which are deeply embedded in its education system. Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917, marking a significant shift in its national trajectory. However, its complex history of being under Swedish and then Russian rule has significantly shaped its cultural and political landscape, influencing its values around freedom, autonomy, and trust. Educators in Finland are trusted because that is a natural byproduct of who they want to be.

In Finnish Lessons 2.0, Pasi Sahlberg calls this, “The Big Finnish Dream,” established in 1963 when the Finnish government decided to choose public education as their best chance to regain economic prosperity after being destroyed by a series of wars. For the Finns, the key to solving their human problems is ensuring that education is a basic human right. Their PISA results, along with the qualities we admire in their system, are an outcome of their investment in human capital; an investment in their happiness, in which they are consistently ranked #1 worldwide; their commitment to social justice, in which they are ranked #3 worldwide; and their commitment to quality of life, in which they are ranked #6 worldwide.

The Finnish Mindset

Educators in Finland, by and large, believe teaching is the best job ever. Opened in December 2018, Helsinki’s Central Library, Oodi, serves as a monument to Finnish culture, education, and democracy, embodying the nation’s commitment to these ideals. The library represents a new era of libraries in Finland and across the world, showcasing the evolution from traditional libraries to dynamic, multi-functional public spaces that foster community, creativity, learning, and access to a wide range of resources.

As they say, “A place for people, and reading. A place for democracy, and learning.” By adopting this mantra, they establish the identity they espouse and the habits that serve to deepen their connection with that identity.

In Atomic Habits, James Clear emphasizes the importance of identity-based habits. He argues that the key to making lasting changes is to focus on who you want to be, rather than just what you want to achieve. By defining your desired identity, you can make choices and develop habits that align with that identity, which in turn leads to the outcomes you want. This concept resonates strongly with the Finnish education system’s success. Finland’s achievements in education are not merely a result of specific practices like play, educator education, or autonomy. Rather, these outcomes are a natural, positive consequence of the values and identity that Finland has chosen to embrace as a nation. By deciding to prioritize education as a basic human right and investing in human capital, happiness, social justice, and quality of life, Finland has defined the kind of society it wants to be. This clear sense of identity has guided the choices and policies that have shaped its education system.

Just as individuals can leverage the power of identity-based habits to transform their lives, Finland’s example shows how a nation can transform its education system by staying true to its core values and desired identity. For educators looking to make teaching the best job ever, the lesson is clear: start by defining the kind of educator and educational system you want to be. What values and principles do you want to embody? What kind of impact do you want to have on your students and your community? By clarifying your desired identity and letting that guide your choices and habits, you can create an educational experience that not only achieves great outcomes but also reflects the deeper purpose and meaning of your work.

Finland’s success story is a powerful reminder that when we focus on who we want to be, rather than just what we want to do, we unleash the potential for transformative change. As James Clear says, “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.”24 For educators, this means that every choice we make in the classroom is an opportunity to vote for the kind of education system we wish to create–one that empowers, inspires, and brings out the best in every student.

Story: How the Physician Assistants Did It

In 1965, when Dr. Eugene Stead at Duke University established the first academic physician assistant (PA) program, he drew on the skills of returning military medics and corpsmen from the Vietnam War. The first class of PAs graduated in 1967, marking the birth of the profession.25

Over the following decades, the PA role gained increasing recognition and support. In 1971, the American Medical Association officially endorsed PAs as primary care providers, leading to increased federal funding for PA programs. [3] By the 1990s, PAs were established as covered healthcare providers, and by the 2000s, they had gained prescriptive authority in all 50 states.

The PA profession emerged in the mid-20th century as a response to a growing physician shortage and the need to provide better access to healthcare, especially for underserved populations.

Today, there are over 115,500 certified PAs practicing in the U.S., providing care that is considered equivalent to that of physicians. [4] PAs have become an essential part of the healthcare system, known for their collaboration with physicians, diverse specialties, and commitment to serving underserved populations. [3] This growth and evolution has contributed to the PA profession being consistently ranked among the top jobs in the country.

The power of advocacy was taught proactively to PA students as part of their education of who they are in their profession. What if we did the same for educators, not just as advocates for students but for ourselves and our profession? I had never heard the word “advocacy” in relation to being an educator. True, we were taught it with regard to advocating for our students. But, as in so many critical professions, educators are taught to put themselves on the back burner rather than advocate for themselves.

PAs are similar to educators because they play integral roles as part of a larger system; yet it is their advocacy that explains how they became integral to the health care protocol, and this has brought them the many benefits they have. They identified a gap and shared a solution. Now is the moment where we as educators can do the same.

Light Your SPARK #5: Who Do You Want to Be?

What would you say if I asked you, when thinking about your role as an educator, “Who do you want to be?” This exercise, inspired by Atomic Habits, invites you to design your future by aligning your choices with who you want to be, both in and out of the classroom.

Here’s How:

Reflect on Your Aspirations: Think about the qualities of the person you aim to be. Write down 2-3 attributes that resonate with who you want to be.

Visualize Success: Imagine a scene where you fully embody these qualities. What are you doing? How do you feel? Sketch this scenario or describe it here on this page.
Identify Actions: For each quality, list simple actions you can take regularly that align with becoming this version of yourself. These are your votes towards your ideal future.

Set Small Goals: Choose one action to focus on each week. It might be as simple as reading a book related to your field, volunteering, or practicing mindfulness.

Reflect Weekly: At the end of each week, jot down your thoughts on the experience. Did this action bring you closer to the person you wish to be? How did it impact those around you? By embracing this activity, you’re not only voting for the educator you wish to be but also participating in the creation of an education system that embodies the principles of empowerment, inspiration, and excellence. Every step you take on this path not only shapes your legacy but also ignites the potential for change in the lives of your students.

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Bea,” a specialized GPT—ready to help you align your choices with the future you want to create. Access Bea and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Chapter 7
The Unfulfilled Promise
of Technology

According to a LinkedIn “Future of Work Report,” we can anticipate a 65% shift in job skills by 2030.26 That represents a massive change to the majority of work roles that currently exist. And Reid Hoffman, former CEO of LinkedIn, predicts that by 2034 the 9-5 will be a thing of the past.

Erik Brynjolfsson has stated that within the next five years, “Artificial transformative intelligence (ATI) will advance to such a degree that it will fundamentally change our perception of intelligence itself. It will revolutionize almost every job, almost every task, almost every process, almost every company.”27

To support the success of today’s learners, technological advancements promise a new era of personalized education. Adaptive learning platforms, leveraging sophisticated algorithms, offer customized instruction tailored to individual student needs, surpassing traditional methods in effectiveness and engagement. Moreover, the ubiquity of smartphones and tablets has propelled mobile learning to the forefront, breaking down the barriers of classroom walls and enabling education anytime, anywhere. Yet, the integration of technology in education faces significant hurdles. Inequities persist in technological infrastructure across different regions, and resistance from educators wary of departing from traditional methods stifles innovation. Concerns over privacy, data security, and the daunting task of curating quality online content further complicate the landscape.

Despite the potential of technology to enrich education, its promise remains largely unfulfilled. The last two decades have seen technological advancements outpace their application in educational settings, with systemic barriers hindering their full adoption. Moreover, resistance to change among educators and administrators, fueled by their fear of the unknown or concerns about disrupting traditional teaching methods, presents a formidable obstacle to innovation in education.

If you were born in 2004, you are now 20 years old. You grew up your entire life with so many emerging technologies, from social media to voice-assistants, to wearables, and so much more. And now, you’re entering the workforce at an inflection point with generative AI. And if you are in elementary school you’ve grown up in a world where talking to your technology is not a novelty, it’s an expectation.

But right now we are stuck between what used to be and what could be. Professor Scott Galloway calls this the “messy middle.” In his Ted Talk, “War on the Young,” he shares how challenging today’s economic, social, and political climate is. He shared that today’s 25-year-olds make less than their parents and grandparents did at the same age, yet they carry student debt loads unimaginable to earlier generations.

Neither the minimum nor median wage has kept pace with inflation or productivity gains, while housing costs have outpaced them, leaving this generation caught in the messy middle. People who live in this space are essentially stuck between the past and future and not getting enough support and guidance on what to do in the present.

This has happened before in history at a time when technology was evolving. Researchers and academics were sounding the alarm about the gravity of neglecting school reform. It happened when I was a young graduate entering the workforce as a first year educator. It happened with the launch of the iPhone. As I look back on the evolution of technology over the past two decades I see a painful realization–academics and researchers had been warning us all along. Yet none of my professors seemed to have shared these insights with me.

In 2013, Frank Levy and Richard Murnane published Dancing with Robots where they shared what schools can do to prepare young people with the skills to be prepared for a world with machines. They shared that there are three areas we should focus on to give people a competitive human advantage–solving unstructured problems, working with new information, and carrying out non-routine manual tasks–all of which can be learned with design thinking.

The future of middle class work they say will have to rely on uniquely human strengths: flexibility—the ability to process and integrate many kinds of information to perform a complex task, and working with new information—acquiring it, making sense of it, communicating it to others.

More than a decade earlier in 2001, Paul Attewell shared an observation: Simply placing computers in the hands of students was not enough. The real challenge lies in addressing the digital use divide, by changing the very tasks that students did with technology.

A few years later, author and three time Pulitzer award winner Thomas Friedman posited the idea that 2007 was a major inflection point for humanity with the advent of the iPhone, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Technology was changing how we work and learn. The gig economy for example sent shockwaves through corporate structures, allowing people with marketable skills to find their own path beyond the company cubicle. Humans have rewritten the rules and still found ways to remain relevant. A recent example of our adaptability started with the pandemic of 2020 that forced people out of crowded schools and workplaces and into their home. The crisis necessitated the changes organizations had been talking about for years. Despite the fears of many, the workforce adapted quite well and quickly to the new “normal.” But a kind of whiplash occurred when it was time to return to work, sparking the “Great Resistance.”28 People rediscovered their innate skills and talents, marketing them to create income that allowed them to continue to enjoy the flexibility of choosing where and when they worked. More than 50 million left the traditional workforce in 2021 with significantly more following suit in 2022; that number continues to grow as more people become enamored with the idea of being creators as entrepreneurs and rewrite the rules of work by building businesses online.29

We learned a powerful lesson about being prepared for the world you’re in rather than the world your public school prepared you for. That world does not exist and hasn’t existed for many decades. That school building is only second in terms of ranking places of influence on impressionable minds ready to be shaped to thrive in and contribute to the world. What happens behind those doors has a greater impact than can be easily described. If it offers a restrictive and unimaginative approach to learning, students will have a harder time breaking free from those old ways of thinking about problems, themselves, others, and the world.

Montessori-style school models receive much praise for producing some of the world’s greatest thinkers. People like Larry Page, Will Wright, Jimmy Wales, and chef Julia Child were inspired in Montessori schools. It follows that the companies they led were so effective, in part, because of the ways they learned to think, adapt, and problem-solve. Consider the unprecedented success of Google and Amazon. While their meteoric rise will be studied for years to come, no discussion of these titans should exclude their education in a Montessori school.30 These companies were able to solve problems in ways that the world needed. They were rewarded with happy customers who return again and again to use their services.

Today, we live in the throes of technology where many people are reporting some of their greatest successes, while others, like me all those years ago, lose their jobs because they don’t have the ability to acquire skills that meet the demands of the current era. They don’t know how to rewrite the rules. People who can pivot, acquire new skills, adopt new technologies, and ride the wave will survive.

Others file unemployment claims as their positions vanish.

It’s a Goldfish

Some might credit luck, genes, family influence, and any number of other advantages to explain why some do well and others struggle to keep pace. But perhaps some people succeed simply because they are in the right environment. One of my editors told me a story of a chance encounter in a fish-and-tackle store. There she saw a giant fish in an immense tank swimming around happily. She asked what kind of fish it was.

“It’s a goldfish,” the proprietor responded.

She laughed. “No, seriously. What kind of fish is it?” The fish was fat and long, weighing as much as three pounds.

He smiled. “I get that reaction all the time. But it really is a goldfish.”

“Good heavens!” she remarked. “What are you feeding it to make it grow so big?”

“Fish food,” he answered. “It’s not the food that made it grow. It’s the tank.”

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell suggests the astronomical odds that Bill Gates should grow leaps and bounds beyond the millions of other high schoolers matriculating at the times. But, Gladwell says, perhaps Gates’ success comes down to one major factor: his high school had a computer at a time when other schools (even colleges) didn’t. Perhaps it was the tank! Access to resources like a computer could have been the decisive advantage that propelled Gates towards his future achievements. Gates may have been able to expand his potential and capabilities due to the opportunities afforded by his high school’s access to technology at a time when his mind was open to explore, experiment, and push back boundaries.31 Students have natural curiosity and innovation. What they need from educators are the tools and the opportunity to learn, practice, and make mistakes. Bill Gates’ odds can be narrowed for every student as we work to offer schools as environments to thrive. Every advantage we give them has the potential to serve as a catalyst for extraordinary achievements and societal impact.

Our education systems continue to lag, though none of the changes we have seen in our world should come as a surprise. They’ve been predicted for many years as we started to witness the hollowing out of middle-class jobs in America due in large part to the technological revolution. The advent of advanced technologies and the computerization of tasks have significantly reshaped industries, rendering many traditional middle-class jobs obsolete while creating new opportunities that demand higher skill levels.32 This was forecast by futurists like Ray Kurzweil.

Kurzweil speculated that by 2023, machines would reach the computational power equivalent to that of the human brain, underscoring the need for continuous upskilling and reskilling to stay relevant in an increasingly automated world. For the middle class to thrive in this changing paradigm, investments in education, lifelong learning programs, and policies that promote innovation are crucial. Design thinking rises to the forefront as one of the best alternatives to the outdated education system taking place in thousands of schools across the U.S. and around the world.

Kurzweil made another prediction in his latest book, The Singularity is Nearer this time about what will happen in 2029. He anticipates that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will have advanced to the point where they surpass human intelligence. This concept, known as the technological singularity, suggests that AI will have reached a level of sophistication where it can improve upon itself at an exponential rate, leading to an unprecedented level of technological advancement and the transformation of human civilization. Kurzweil speculates that this could result in profound changes to virtually every aspect of society, from healthcare and transportation to communication and beyond.33

Design thinking sharpens our foresight skills. So, while we can’t predict what comes next, we can be more attuned to signals of how things are changing. In Imaginable, author Jane McGonigal shares, “Almost everything that’s ever happened was unimaginable right before it happened.”34 Design thinking allows us to be futurists who have the skills to imagine the unimaginable and the mindsets to navigate ambiguity.

The changing nature of work calls for an interdisciplinary approach to learning. As boundaries between traditional job roles blur, students will benefit from an education that integrates multiple disciplines, encouraging them to see connections between different fields of knowledge.

Looking ahead, the future of work in America will likely be characterized by a growing emphasis on adaptable skills such as critical thinking, complex problem-solving, and your ability to learn. The World Economic Forum’s trending skills charts for the future of jobs highlight the importance of these skills in navigating the evolving labor landscape.

Chapter 8
Are We Preparing Learners for 2029 or 1929

While AI can replicate certain tasks and even support us in decision-making, it cannot replicate the essence of what makes us truly human. As we move forward, it’s not just the skills we acquire, but the depth of our character that will define our success. By nurturing these qualities—curiosity, integrity, resilience, compassion, courage, and voice—you will not only stand out in a technologically-driven world but lead it with humanity at the forefront. Together, these qualities build and reinforce the confidence to make decisions and choices amid uncertainty and to stand firm even when it goes against the grain. Ultimately, you’ll have to answer these questions for yourself, shaping the way you impact the world around you. Then you’ll be able to help others do this too.

Curiosity: What questions do you ask that others might overlook?

Integrity: How do you choose to act when no one is watching?

Resilience: How do you persevere when faced with challenges that seem insurmountable?

Compassion: How do you show understanding and kindness when it’s needed most?

Courage: What risks are you willing to take to stand by your values?

Voice: How do you use your voice to inspire, influence, and make a difference?

Confidence: How do you trust in your own abilities and express yourself authentically, even in the face of doubt or criticism?

The rapid advancement of technology and automation presents profound implications for the future of work. As jobs evolve, so must our approach to education. The rise of AI technology, robotics, and digital platforms transforms traditional job roles, emphasizing the need for adaptive, innovative thinkers capable of navigating a dynamic job market. The need to prepare students for a world where routine tasks are increasingly automated is not just an educational priority but an economic imperative. As Stefan Bauschard wrote on his Substack, “What Industrial Revolution are you preparing your students for?”

At the inaugural Orange County Student AI Summit, a student-led conference, I had the opportunity to mentor an enthusiastic, confident, and curious sophomore, Sophia, who was part of a keynote and led a breakout session. In our first meeting, we discussed how people feel about AI. She shared that a primary challenge was the mixed messaging students receive from educators. Some support its use, and others categorize it as cheating. This confusion wasn’t limited to her school; it was happening everywhere. Worse, it’s happening at a time when today’s young people are anxious about their future. One survey shows 75% of high school graduates to make college or career decisions after graduation.35

Sophia shared her passion for wanting to study the intersection of biology and technology and was excited for how AI could be used to create solutions to some of our most pressing healthcare challenges. Coincidentally, on the same day of our conversation, OpenAI released a case study about how Moderna was integrating its technology. At the same time that educators were telling her that AI was cheating, Moderna, much like many other companies, was leveraging this tool to raise proficiency in safe, ethical, and effective ways.

Brad Miller, Chief Information Officer at Moderna, explains this by saying: “90% of companies want to do GenAI, but only 10% of them are successful. They fail because they haven’t built the mechanisms of transforming the workforce to adopt new technology and capabilities.”36

As Moderna partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to its thousands of employees, they started with design thinking to solve any associated problems. As they shared,

To allow AI to flourish, they knew they needed to start with the user and invest in laying a strong foundation for change. They knew that cultures of innovation begin with a culture of empathy. Alongside it they set an ambitious goal: achieve 100% adoption and proficiency of generative AI by all its people with access to digital solutions in six months.1

Using AI has impacted every facet of the company’s work and communication in a people-centered approach. The company collaborated with its employees to find as many ways as possible for ChatGPT to be useful so that they could achieve adoption of the new protocol by their entire company. Everyone in the company was asked to give their input, and all voices were heard.

Through their work with ChatGPT, a pilot called Dose ID was created to analyze data for the purpose of making clinical decisions. It’s capable of looking at large pools of data to aid humans in making decisions about the drugs the company offers. Milit Workneh, Director of Clinical Development at Moderna states:

Dose ID has provided supportive rationale for why we have picked a specific dose over other doses. It has allowed us to create customized data visualizations, and it has also helped the study team members converse with the GPT to further analyze the data from multiple different angles.1

What happens to our students when tomorrow’s workplaces are eagerly integrating emerging technologies and expect incoming graduates to have the skills to collaborate with other people and the machines that assist them? What happens when the message we send to our learners is in direct conflict with what they will need to know if they are going to access the opportunities of tomorrow? Would they have the skills and mindsets a company like Moderna is looking for if we’ve taught them that AI is cheating?

W.I.S.E. Up:
Preparing Ethical Leaders for Tomorrow

What happens when there’s no rulebook on how to act, or when there’s no one looking over your shoulder? In a world increasingly driven by AI, we know that AI detectors are not the technology that can detect right from wrong—it’s about whether we can. Moreover, these detectors cannot be relied upon to consistently make the right call. The W.I.S.E. decision-making framework is designed to guide students in making ethical choices that set them apart and build trust in an environment where integrity is more valuable than ever.

The W.I.S.E. decision-making framework is designed to guide not just students but all of us in making ethical choices that set us apart and build trust in an environment where integrity is more valuable than ever. By asking ourselves the following critical questions, we cultivate a mindset that enhances our interactions with AI and each other:

Wellbeing: How does my decision affect the well-being of others and myself? This question urges students to consider the broader impact of their actions, fostering a sense of responsibility towards the community and the environment.

Integrity: Am I acting in a way that is honest and transparent? This component of the framework encourages students to uphold ethical standards, even in the face of adversity or when they think no one is watching.

Skills: What skills am I developing or neglecting by making this decision? This question prompts students to reflect on their personal growth and the long-term benefits of their educational choices.

Engagement: How does this choice engage my curiosity and commitment to my work? It’s essential for students to remain actively involved and interested in their actions, ensuring that they are not just passive consumers of technology but active and engaged participants.

The W.I.S.E. framework not only supports students in making ethical decisions about the use of AI and other technologies but also integrates seamlessly into discussions about character development and personal growth. By applying this framework, students learn to navigate the complexities of modern technology with confidence and integrity.

Let’s look at 2 examples.

Scenario 1: AI and Homework

Title: “The Midnight Project”

Jordan is in the eighth grade and loves to draw and play video games but isn’t a big fan of writing essays. One day, the English teacher assigns a big project due at the end of the week: a three-page essay on their favorite novel from class. Jordan immediately feels overwhelmed, thinking about balancing homework with an upcoming soccer tournament.

At home, while browsing the internet for help, Jordan stumbles upon an AI-powered writing tool that promises to make essay writing easy. The website says, “Just input your topic and get a full essay in minutes!” Curious and a bit relieved, Jordan considers using the tool to finish the project quickly.

That night, Jordan chats online with a classmate, Alex, who mentions they’ve been using the same AI tool for quick homework but sometimes feels it’s a bit like cheating. Alex points out that the tool can even mimic personal writing style if you feed it enough of your previous work.

Jordan starts to wonder:

“How will using this AI tool affect my learning and understanding of the book?”

“Am I being honest with my teacher if I use this AI tool to write my essay?”

“What skills might I miss out on developing if I rely on this tool instead of writing myself?”

“Does using this AI help me really engage with my favorite novel, or does it just get the job done?”

Feeling torn, Jordan remembers the class discussion about using technology responsibly. The decision now is whether to use the AI tool just to get the essay done or perhaps use it in a way that still involves personal effort and learning.

Scenario 2: AI in Social Media Interactions

Title: “The Like Experiment”

Before the experiment begins, Mia’s digital literacy teacher spends a class session explaining how social media platforms use AI algorithms. The teacher illustrates with a simple diagram on the board:

Input: Every like, comment, share, and follow you make is data input for the AI.

Process: The AI analyzes these inputs to learn what you prefer. It looks for patterns in your activity—what types of content you interact with most.

Output: Based on this data, the AI predicts what you might like to see next and adjusts your feed accordingly, showing you more of what you interact with the most.

The teacher explains, “These AI systems are designed to keep you engaged for as long as possible because the more you interact, the more they learn about your preferences. This helps the platform tailor your feed to keep you interested and scrolling.”

Armed with this knowledge, Mia realizes that her interactions don’t just affect her feed but also influence what her friends see and do on their feeds. This deeper understanding motivates her to start her experiment to see firsthand how these inputs (likes and comments) affect the output (her social media feed) and, ultimately, her social interactions.

Mia decides to post two different types of content on her social media account over a week: one set that she genuinely loves creating, like her original dance routines, and another set that she thinks will get more likes, such as popular dance challenges that everyone is doing.

Throughout the week, Mia notices significant differences:

Her dance challenges get more likes and comments, pushing those posts to appear more often in her friends’ feeds.

Her original content receives less attention but garners heartfelt comments from close friends who truly appreciate her creativity.

This observation leads Mia to several questions:

“How does what I like and share teach the social media AI about what I want to see?”

“Am I being true to myself if I post content just for likes, or should I post what I genuinely love?”

“What skills and personal growth am I promoting by choosing one type of content over another?”

“Does focusing on likes help or hinder my genuine engagement with my friends and followers?”

Mia reflects on these questions and thinks about the role AI plays in shaping her social media experience, especially how it influences her choices and interactions.

The Institute for the Future estimates that 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been created yet.37 This puts educators at a crucial crossroads. We’re tasked with helping students make wise choices in a world where traditional roles are constantly evolving. What does this look like in practice?

Let’s discover how one writer is reshaping her profession, demonstrating the dynamic future of traditional skills.

Meet Alex Cattoni

Alex Cattoni, 2022 marketer of the year, doesn’t think writing is going anywhere. In fact she’s so certain it’s an essential skill that in 2020 she launched The Copy Posse. Even in a world with AI she helps hundreds of thousands build businesses on the very skill that most educators are afraid will go away–writing. From the elements of storytelling, to the importance of empathy and authenticity, to how to build a lucrative business she’s not afraid of AI replacing writers, she’s teaching you how your writing skills matter even more.

Her website shares:

We believe your message matters and your words can change the world. You have the power to create the life of your dreams, build a lucrative business AND make an impact on humanity with the type of marketing that today’s businesses need and today’s audiences crave.38

Alex is one of many examples that knowledge and skills matter. But context matters even more.

The same methods that we used to teach and learn writing and other subject areas need to evolve. And with it so will your role and the opportunities you have as an educator, and the opportunities you’ll be able to create for your learners.

This isn’t just about technology; it’s about being relentless in aligning your values and your vision. That’s what successful organizations do, and they are rewarded with the benefits of forward-thinking. This shift demands a curriculum that fosters imagination, curiosity, lifelong learning, critical thinking, creativity, and adaptability, equipping students to find their place in today’s world.

There is no shortage of articles about students graduating with debt, and despite the number of growing credentials available through different pathways, a Morning Consult survey commissioned by JFF and ASA found that one-third of individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 say they do not know what career they want to pursue. That’s at least 10 million young people who are struggling to decide what comes next. 74% of those surveyed shared that they want to know more about what their options are. And 62% said they did not feel empowered or in control of their future.39

However, not all students feel this way. Some have found other pathways. Let’s first look at those who have done so after graduation. Students who learn from online educator Amie Tollefsrud in her signature course “The Online Course Academy,” tell a very different story. From stories on her podcast, to her daily stories shared on Instagram, within a few months her students are graduating and making back their tuition of about $2500 and a lot more. From working as a bartender and living in a hut, to now running a $9 million dollar company where she has helped thousands design a career and income pathway, she’s an educator who has redefined what it means to teach and learn in today’s world.40

Now I’m not saying this is what everyone should do. Or this is what everyone needs. But I hope it does make you ask:

How will my role as a teacher need to change to stay relevant as new technologies emerge?

What new opportunities can I find to enhance our learning environment with technology?

How can collaborating with other teachers help me show our students different career paths?

What are the essential skills that our students need to learn now for the tech-driven jobs of the future?

There are a few lucky students who are getting exposed to the possibilities that exist as they design their careers. Let me introduce you to Eme Williams and Krishiv Thakuria.

Story: Eme - There are No Limits

Eme’s journey into new ventures began uniquely with running. Last year, as she set modest expectations before her races, she found herself consistently exceeding them. This experience taught her that the only limits she faced were those she set for herself, often out of fear of stepping beyond her comfort zone. Recognizing this, Eme decided to adopt a more open-minded approach, embracing challenges and dedicating herself to hard work and perseverance. This shift in mindset opened her up to new possibilities, allowing her to surpass her own limits.

When Eme was ready to start her new projects, she turned to her mother for support. Having a reliable and knowledgeable guide right at home gave her the confidence and resources she needed to move forward.

Eme’s recent project, a Girl Scout Gold Award initiative to create a free mental health art therapy book for teens, has been a significant success. She has collaborated with various experts who have offered their support in everything from research to book design and printing. This collective effort has been instrumental in bringing her vision to life.

Eme advises others embarking on ambitious projects to understand the importance of having a strong support network. You can give Eme a follow on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/emewilliams.

Story: Krishiv - Challenge Accepted

At just 13 years old, an extraordinary challenge was posed to Krishiv: to create and teach his own computer science course for a class of around 30 students with learning disabilities. This experience taught him that age is no barrier to making a significant impact; instead, dedication is key. This revelation transformed his outlook, proving that great work depends more on commitment than on years. His approach to starting new projects is simple yet powerful: “figure it out.” Inspired by Steve Jobs’ philosophy that anyone is capable of understanding and shaping the world, he embraced a proactive mindset. He began by asking experts, utilizing search engines, and leveraging AI tools to fill gaps in his knowledge. This willingness to dive into the unknown, guided by curiosity, was his strategy for turning ideas into action.

His initiative, Aceflow, co-created with Microsoft, aims to develop affordable AI tutoring technologies for high school students. The venture has already attracted thousands of users and achieved viral success through TikTok marketing campaigns. He has also shared his insights on AI and education at over ten international events, including prestigious conferences like GITEX Global and the World Summit AI. Further, he collaborated with LinkedIn on an AI feature and contributed to AI solutions at BenchSci, where he was offered a full-time position. His advice for others who aspire to similar achievements is straightforward: Maintain a positive attitude, adopt a “figure-it-out” approach, and cultivate a ‘boss mentality.’ These principles can elevate one’s endeavors and turn ambitious visions into reality.

You can give Krishiv a follow on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/krishivthakuria.

Celebrate Stories. Not Scores.

Assessment in schools often feels like judging a book by its cover—it rarely captures the full richness of each student’s story. Did you notice that I said you could find both Eme and Krishiv on LinkedIn? There they have a chance to share their story and experience, qualities that often matter more than scores in the world of work they are walking into.

Every learner brings a unique set of strengths and experiences, yet traditional educational systems frequently reduce these vibrant individualities to mere letters and numbers. This reductive approach may partly explain why, by 2022, the self-help industry ballooned to a staggering $13.2 billion, growing annually by 5.6%.41 The message people seem to crave most, one that I heard echoed in the comments of an online webinar led by Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi—a session I attended after years of curiosity—is both simple and profound: “You’re good enough. You can do this. You are capable of more than you’ve been told.”

This realization invites us to question: If so many are seeking validation and motivation from external sources, what are we missing in our approach to education and personal development?

In Atomic Habits, James Clear emphasizes that if we aim to alter our habits, we must shift our focus from outcomes to identity. He poses a foundational question that I often use to start my keynotes and workshops on artificial intelligence (AI) in education: “Who do you want to be in your role?”

When I present this question to educators, the responses are telling. No one ever dreams of being the “Sherlock Holmes of plagiarism” or aspires merely to ensure every student scores perfectly on standardized tests. Instead, they speak of aspirations that embody uniquely human qualities, reflecting deeper, personal missions and values. Some responses I have received are on the following page. The responses from educational leaders are first followed by educators.

Do you notice the difference? This shift isn’t just semantic; it signifies a profound transformation in how we perceive education and envision our identities in the age of AI. As we delve into this new perspective, I encourage you to go back and read what you wrote during Light Your SPARK #5 so you can see you likely shared something similar to what educators around the world say.

When we enable learners to share their skills, strengths, and experiences with our professional network, we increase the connection between what is happening inside and outside of school, increasing their exposure and access to possibilities.

In today’s fast-paced world, personal stories and experiences resonate far more than traditional grades ever could. Imagine if every student began their introduction not with their academic label but with their personal goals and current projects:

“Hi! I’m ____ and I’m working on _____.”

Instead of:

“Hi, I’m a freshman and I go to “insert school name”

I met Eme and Krishiv through my course - Design Your Future: How to Turn Papers into Projects That You Can Share with the World. The experience is centered around four central ideas to help young people find their PATH:

Plan: Get SMART About Your Goals

Awareness: Self-Awareness: What Story Do You Tell Yourself?

Teamwork: Build a Network Before, Not After You Graduate

Highlight: Show, Don’t Tell

And with tools like Canva where students can create portfolios and tools like ChatGPT that can help us design this experience, this has never been more achievable and scalable. As we face the different futures unfolding before us, our task in education is clear: we must prepare students not just to cope with change, but to design a future that honors who they want to be and how they want to contribute.

People are more than a score. They are each their own story.

Navigating the Transformative Impact
of Technology on the Future Workforce

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) outlined three possible outcomes from the advancement of technology:

AI as a Beneficial Partner: Humans may find AI to be an able partner, making their tasks easier and more efficient. This scenario also suggests that jobs lost to AI might provide opportunities for displaced workers to learn new skills and find better jobs.

Reduced Human Relevance: A more concerning prospect was suggested, where AI technology could, within two decades, reduce the usefulness of the human labor force, performing most available jobs.

Widespread Job Replacement: The most drastic scenario proposed by the IMF would see most jobs replaced by AI in just five years.42

To better understand these outcomes, let’s consider two key metrics the IMF uses to evaluate AI’s impact on the workforce:

Exposure: The IMF finds that nearly 40% of global employment is vulnerable to AI, indicating that these jobs may undergo significant transformation or influence by AI technologies. This impact is more pronounced in advanced economies, where about 60% of jobs show high exposure to AI-driven changes.

Complementarity: The IMF notes that AI is poised to act as a complement to human efforts in many sectors. Particularly in advanced economies, around half of the AI-exposed jobs could see enhanced productivity and job outcomes through AI integration. This suggests that AI can augment human efficiency and capabilities, rather than merely replacing jobs.

To write a positive outcome when people look back and tell the story of AI integration, it is crucial that we avoid falling into the substitution trap. Instead, we must redefine what it means to work and learn alongside these powerful tools, aligning tasks with our respective strengths to enhance and augment human capabilities.

No matter which of the three scenarios becomes reality, it will demand a response from the educational systems of the world so that students entering the job market have opportunities for work. The transformation of work in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution underscores the importance of continuous learning and adaptability. The educational system must evolve to nurture lifelong learners prepared to reinvent themselves and acquire new skills throughout their careers. The traditional model of education, emphasizing rote memorization and standardized testing, is increasingly inadequate in preparing students for a future where they will need to adapt to new roles and challenges continually.

Either way, one thing is true. The children in elementary, middle, and senior high schools across the country and around the world will come face-to-face with whatever reality emerges. A reality that the choices we make today are creating.

Beyond Bloom: Designing Learning to Build Our Human Advantage

In the past, educational frameworks like Bloom’s Taxonomy have served us well, providing structured models to guide teaching and assess learning. However, as we face an era marked by rapid technological advancements, it’s clear that these traditional models need to evolve. We must think bigger and broader, not only about accumulating knowledge but about how we share and enhance our collective intelligence.

Today, intelligence is not a zero-sum game; it is increasingly shared, extended, and amplified through the use of sophisticated AI technologies. As Sam Altman shares:

It won’t happen all at once, but we’ll soon be able to work with AI that helps us accomplish much more than we ever could without AI; eventually we can each have a personal AI team, full of virtual experts in different areas, working together to create almost anything we can imagine. Our children will have virtual tutors who can provide personalized instruction in any subject, in any language, and at whatever pace they need. We can imagine similar ideas for better healthcare, the ability to create any kind of software someone can imagine, and much more.

With these new abilities, we can have shared prosperity to a degree that seems unimaginable today; in the future, everyone’s lives can be better than anyone’s life is now. Prosperity alone doesn’t necessarily make people happy – there are plenty of miserable rich people – but it would meaningfully improve the lives of people around the world.43

However, as Erik Brynjolfsson reminds us, “There is no economic law that says as technology advances, everyone benefits.”44 To ensure that the benefits of AI and other technological advancements are widely shared, we must rethink our educational strategies. Drawing from Paul Attewell’s insights, our challenge is not to substitute old tasks with new technology but to transform these tasks fundamentally. Our new framework, Beyond Bloom, embodies this philosophy by redefining how we use AI in education. It’s not about discarding writing; rather, it’s about being more ambitious in our approach to foster skills that prepare students for the complexities of tomorrow. By changing the tasks we perform that allow us to augment AI capabilities, we develop capabilities that are critical for thriving in an AI-enhanced world, setting the stage for shared prosperity and equipping our students to not just participate in the future but actively shape it.

Stage | Description | Human Role | AI Role
Analyze | Building the base knowledge necessary for further learning, ensuring it is accessible and culturally inclusive. | How do we ensure the integrity of the information AI retrieves while being culturally sensitive? | How can AI help us gather diverse and reliable information from different sources while minimizing bias?
Analyze–Master basic concepts to prepare for more complex analytical tasks
Create | Applying and evaluating information to form judgments and solve problems, fostering ethical and equitable solutions. | How do we use AI to enhance, not replace, our problem-solving capabilities, considering diverse perspectives? | In what ways can AI analyze data to uncover patterns we might overlook, ensuring fairness?
Create–Apply analytical skills to innovate and design new solutions.
Express | Encouraging the generation of new and innovative ideas, ensuring inclusivity in creative expressions. | How can we leverage AI to foster, not stifle, our creative processes while respecting cultural diversity? | What tools can AI provide to support our creative endeavors, ensuring accessibility for all?
Express–Utilize creative outcomes to enhance communication and collaborative efforts.
Integrity | Developing strong moral foundations and ethical reasoning, guided by a commitment to social responsibility. | How do we maintain strong ethics in decisions influenced by AI and consider the impact on all community members? | How can AI assist in understanding ethical frameworks while respecting human judgment?
Integrity–Reflect on the ethical implications of innovations and creative outputs.
Adapt | Enhancing the ability to work effectively and in an empathetic way with others, leveraging AI to support diverse communication needs. | How can AI tools enhance individual voice and expression in communication while ensuring inclusivity? | In what ways can AI support collaborative efforts by adapting to the diverse needs of team members?
Adapt–Engage in reflective practices to improve and adapt learning strategies.
Reflect | Fostering an ongoing awareness of one’s own learning processes and adapting to future challenges and changes, ensuring equitable opportunities for growth. | How does your learning journey shape your understanding of yourself and your capabilities? | How can AI provide feedback to highlight insights and lessons you might have missed?
Reflect–Continuously reassess knowledge and skills to begin the cycle anew with refined insights.

Story: Bennett–Bridging Cultures Through Books

Bennett’s journey began with a passion for both reading and his Korean heritage. While connecting with students in Korea, he noticed that there wasn’t a platform that united Korean and Korean-American high school students through books and stories. He realized that creating a space for students on different continents to connect through shared cultural experiences, as well as their unique perspectives, would foster a deeper understanding. This was the spark that led to the founding of KoREADa, a unique book club for students across the globe. Bennett reached out to a friend in Korea who shared his enthusiasm for reading and began building the foundations of KoREADa. He also engaged his middle and high school English teachers for feedback on his initial proposal. Bennett’s proactive approach extended to contacting a high school in Korea that had visited his school years earlier, seeking students who would be interested in the club. Social media platforms like Instagram and messaging apps like Kakao and iMessage became vital tools for communication and maintaining connections across borders.

KoREADa’s success has been driven by Bennett’s focus on engagement. Despite the challenges of time zone differences and virtual meetings, he made sure every Zoom session was interactive and meaningful. Icebreakers like “two truths and a lie” helped ease members into discussions, and Bennett ensured that each book discussion was relevant to members’ personal lives and experiences. With cameras on and open-ended questions driving the conversation, KoREADa has become a thriving, supportive space for cultural exchange. Bennett’s advice to anyone looking to start a project like his is to find something you’re deeply passionate about and identify a genuine need. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals and mentors who can support your vision. Above all, focus on making your project meaningful and impactful, with the potential to inspire others to join and carry the vision forward.

As we step beyond the foundational principles of Bloom and venture into a new era of learning with AI, our commitment must be clear: to leverage these powerful tools not just for incremental changes, but for transformative improvements in how we educate and empower the next generation. The framework we have laid out, ‘Beyond Bloom: Building Our Human Advantage’, is designed to ensure that the integration of AI into our educational systems enriches and amplifies our human advantage, creating a world of shared prosperity.

Light Your SPARK #6: What Is Your AI Exposure?

Reflect on the tasks in your daily life now within reach of AI’s capabilities. This exploration invites you to appreciate the blend of artificial intelligence in your routines and to envision new possibilities that leverage both your unique human qualities and AI’s efficiency.

Here’s How:

List Your Tasks: Identify several tasks you engage in that AI tools are capable of handling, such as analyzing complex data, scheduling, drafting communications, or providing customer service.

Assess Human Value: For each task, consider why human execution might still be preferred. What do you bring to these tasks—creativity, personal touch, empathy—that AI cannot?

Redefine Your Relationship with AI: Reflect on how your perception of AI has evolved. “Before, I viewed AI as a tool for [previous thought]. Now, I see its potential to [new insight], enabling me to [action or new possibility].”

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Lex,” a specialized GPT—your guide to understanding the role of AI in amplifying your capabilities. Access Lex and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Chapter 9
How COVID Forced Change

If COVID taught us nothing else, we learned that the world can change in almost an instant, and only those who can respond and adapt will be able to thrive. Sometimes change comes from places we never imagined like that uninvited dinner guest.

Despite the destruction it brought, we have COVID to thank for forcing us out of our comfort zones and urging us to do what we have known we had to do for decades. We have had these conversations before, but COVID plunged us into one shared experience. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic, while disruptive, has been a pivotal force in accelerating educational reform. It challenged conventional norms, revealed the inequities, and opened doors to innovative teaching methodologies, demonstrating the potential for rapid transformation in response to global crises. Educators and students quickly embraced digital platforms, video conferencing tools, and online resources to facilitate learning from home. The integration of technology in education happened at an unprecedented pace. From March 2020 onwards, educators, school administrators, and an army of IT workers managed to reshape the educational system, proving it had been possible all along. Educators leveraged various digital tools, learning management systems, and educational applications to deliver content, engage students, and facilitate assessments.

While embracing technological advancements is crucial, it’s equally important to recognize the challenges they bring. Not all students have equal access to technology, and there’s a learning curve for educators and students alike in adapting to these new tools.

Was it a perfect transition? Not by any means. There were countless gaps and mishaps along the way. Challenges included the need for educator training and support in navigating digital tools, addressing equity gaps, and ensuring effective student engagement in remote settings. Many students in underserved areas had limited or no access to the internet, making their transition to more advanced technologies difficult. The role of educators as facilitators and mentors became even more critical in guiding students through the digital landscape.

We watched as diligent educators rose to the occasion supporting their students from afar and proving why educators are living, breathing heroes walking among us. We grew to appreciate not just educators but the community itself. Parents, educators, communities, and students gave their all to save the school year, and they continue to help kids regain what they lost in 2020 and 2021.

When COVID hit, closing schools, forcing quarantines and increasing the stress students feel, it exacerbated the sense of isolation and despair. Post-COVID, educators were called upon to help students reintegrate in the physical school, begging the question of whether an educator’s primary responsibility is to focus on content or focus on the people in their classrooms. The old idea that educators were just disseminators of information, not relationship builders, early adopters, and thought leaders, was shattered.

The groundwork had been laid, and we proved that the old tenets weren’t as sacred as we pretended. No longer could those advocating for new ways to teach and learn be ignored by people making claims of insurmountable obstacles like timing and funding. Everything about learning was turned upside by the pandemic. For example, it prompted a reevaluation of assessment methods. Traditional exams and assessments requiring in-person presence were replaced by online assessments, project-based evaluations, and alternative grading forms. Educators explored new ways to assess students’ knowledge and skills in remote settings, such as open-book exams, video presentations, and online portfolios. This shift encouraged a focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity, moving away from rote memorization and regurgitation of information. With this infrastructure in place, many educators asked what the future would hold. Would schools return to the old learning methods, or would this spark an educational revolution of epic proportion?

They got their answer as far too many schools settled back into the old ways: standardized tests, filling in circles on answer keys, 5-letter grading systems, 50-minute class periods, and notebook checks. Perhaps the worst crime was the tendency for teaching to the test that would determine a school’s ability to remain in the good graces of the district and federal administrators.

As we stand at the crossroads of technological potential and educational reform, it is imperative to reassess our priorities and strategies. The focus must shift from mere automation and content delivery to fostering environments that truly augment human intelligence, creativity, and interaction. In doing so, we might avoid the pitfalls of past endeavors and steer towards a future where technology fulfills its promise of transforming education for the better.

Story: Canva Case Study

Canva took a design thinking approach to the shape of its company as they looked to pivot and react to the changes caused by COVID. Though there were fixed pillars that drove the company, other facets of the organization were ripe for change. For example, its employees can decide how much time they spend in the corporate offices, choosing the work environment that is best for them. This proves the company’s trust among its employees to get the work done, irregardless of where it gets done.

The company listened to its employees and acknowledged that flexibility and connection were more important than traditional 9 to 5 work schedules. Then, knowing what the employees wanted, the company designed policies and principles around it. The result was increased efficiency, more collaboration, and less downtime. The company employed technology through video messages, doc sharing, and online tools to work with other team members.

Canva TV is shared by all to ensure employees are kept up to date with important company news. Watch parties for the monthly broadcast became the norm making it a celebrated time to connect with coworkers around the world.

Virtual learning has been adopted companywide making it more scalable and easier to share. Employees can access training on their own schedules. Even onboarding is done virtually and through virtual learning methods. Professional development through Canva University offers flexible training in a remote platform.45

Canva demonstrated our ability to create spaces, policies, and systems that were best for the end user. In this case; it was the Canva workforce who benefitted. Imagine the impact for education professions if the same principles were applied.

Seven Little Words

I am reminded of the story of a woman in the kitchen preparing dinner. Her husband came in and offered to help. She gladly welcomed the bonding time and gave him some potatoes to slice as she continued to prepare the roast.

“Honey?” he asked. “Why do you cut the ends off the roast and throw them away? Is something wrong with them, or does that help it cook better?”

The woman stopped before answering, “I don’t know, sweetheart. That’s what my mother always did. So, I do it too.”

They went back to work on getting dinner ready, but the woman couldn’t stop thinking about her husband’s question. Why did she do such a bizarre thing? She stopped and called her mother.

“Mom,” she queried, “why did you cut the ends off the roast when I was a kid?”

“I don’t know, dear,” her mother replied. “That’s just what my mother did. You might call her and ask.”

A call to her grandmother at her retirement community solved the mystery. “Grandmother, why did you cut the ends off the roast when my mother was a little girl?”

Her grandmother chuckled before answering, “Because in those days, most homes only had one baking pan, and mine was too short! That’s the way we’ve always done it.”

This has become the mantra of the modern school system. While few say it aloud, it is the undercurrent running through many of the programs and processes at the heart of the American educational complex.

Navigating the influx of solutions in search of problems amid constant change can feel overwhelming. It’s akin to constructing a lavish, new house on a shaky foundation—the allure of the shiny new object or valuable tool fades when the conditions aren’t conducive to its success. Similarly, the environment in which educators operate shapes the experiences of students. If the conditions aren’t right, no matter how innovative the educational tools or approaches may be, they can’t fulfill their potential. Creating a supportive and nurturing environment for educators is paramount in fostering a conducive learning experience for students.

One of the tenets of design thinking is experimentation. However, the old school system frowns upon taking such risks. educators are hesitant to try something new because they don’t know what the consequences of failure might be. Design thinking models free educators as much as students. If we aspire for excellence in our children’s learning conditions, we must first ensure the teaching/learning environments for our educators are nothing short of exceptional. Only then can we truly say we’ve set the stage for our students’ success.

A major threat to this kind of thinking is too much reliance on practices of the past. Questioning what we do and why helps us shed attitudes that no longer serve educators and learners. Asking the right questions is the first step toward the right answers. But doing so takes courage and a willingness to challenge the status quo. Questions like:

Why are school periods 45-50 minutes long?

Why does schooling happen behind a desk surrounded by four walls?

Why is there a one-educator, one-class approach?

Why do we hand out letter grades?

Bravely asking those same “W” questions we teach our students—who, what, why, when, and where—we might discover that much of what we do is only explained by those seven little words: that’s how we’ve always done it.

For example, design thinking might challenge the idea of one educator for one class. Reimagining the structure of the classroom is one of the easiest ways to make instant change in learning. From a social level, students connect with different educators in different ways. Having another educator present creates new opportunities to bond with students. From a practical standpoint, two educators (or three or ten) can more effectively manage a class and offer assistance. But the significant impact is educational. If an educator who is strong in history collaborates with one who is strong in math, a lesson on the economics of the Depression gets a facelift. Students learn how life is connected across disciplines and understand the importance of taking a polymath approach to learning.

The risk of not rethinking schooling is so enormous that it can’t be overstated. The world is changing…and fast. As our knowledge grows, so do our challenges. The person answering the world’s biggest questions—climate change, ocean pollution, cancer, etc.—could be sitting in an American classroom right now. The person who mediates a peace accord between warring nations might be holding a crayon in a kindergarten class at this very moment. It might sound cliché, but it rings true. The great brains that will innovate, recreate, and catapult society forward are very likely among the students sitting behind desks in silly little rows in some American classroom, having their light and love for education dimmed with every passing day. Just like I did.

But an even larger question looms: are we preparing and equipping students to meet the challenges that will unfold over the period from kindergarten to twelfth grade? Will they be able to answer the call of the biggest changes in technology to sweep the world in the history of humankind?

AI technology and machine learning

Synthetic biology

Robotics

Quantum computing

Genomics

It is the biggest educational question of our time. So, doing things the way we have always done them, without understanding why, will come with a hefty price tag. One of the biggest questions might be what to do when a person’s job is no longer their main identity.

Since it is inarguable that the rate of change and adoption of new technology is moving at lightning speed, we must ensure that our students are among the world’s greatest thinkers. To do that, we must craft school systems that support, encourage, incubate, and enhance that brain power. We must do everything—absolutely everything—in our power to keep our students on the cutting edge and, beyond that, to make learning exciting, engaging, fun, spontaneous, and independent so that they can push the boundaries of knowledge even further. They must be ready to tackle all the big issues they will soon take the reins of medicine, science, space travel, politics, law, and more. We are truly educating students for a world that does not currently exist using tools for a world that is long gone. Our century-old educational paradigm might have been adequate for where we were. However, it is strangling us today and is woefully insufficient to accommodate where we are going.

While the story of the roast illustrates how traditions persist without question, the stakes in education are far higher than mere culinary practices. The world is not just changing; it is being reshaped by technology at an unprecedented pace. Education systems clinging to outdated methodologies fail to prepare students for the future and risk widening the gap between the skills taught in schools and those demanded in the modern workforce.

In a world where AI and machine learning are redefining industries, where synthetic biology and genomics are unlocking new frontiers in medicine, and where quantum computing and robotics are reshaping the very fabric of society, our educational approach must be as dynamic and forward-thinking as the technologies shaping our world. We must ask ourselves: are we equipping our students with the skills not just to navigate but also to innovate and create a place for themselves in this new world?

The need for empathy, integrity, adaptability, and a deeper understanding of technology is not just an educational requirement but a societal imperative. As we stand at the crossroads of a technological revolution, the way we educate our youth will determine not just their futures but the future of our global society. Therefore, our challenge is more than just updating the curriculum; we need to rethink the very essence of schooling. It’s about transforming schools from places of passive learning to hubs of active exploration. It’s about moving beyond the ‘seven little words’ that have held our systems in stasis and embracing a future already unfolding before us.

Chapter 10
Design Thinking is Empathy

We know what we currently have isn’t working. We also know the evidence-based methods that do. Where we struggle is how. And that’s what design thinking is here to help with, offering a method and mindset to scaffold the change you want to see.

Design thinking is a method and mindset to address complex problem solving. In our context, it aims to answer the most difficult questions about the school system and simultaneously provides the tools necessary to turn the tide toward more engaged learners and educators.

Simply put, design thinking has one overarching goal: create cultures of innovation that begin with a culture of empathy. On the heels of the global pandemic, a phenomenon social scientists suggest will have impacts for at least the next decade, there is no better time to reevaluate education, turn it around in our minds, and ask whether the status quo is sufficient to meet the demands of a more complex world. We are right in the middle of the greatest opportunity we have ever known to rethink schooling and amplify our impact on this generation and the ones to come.

Design thinking starts with a foundational understanding of empathy that centers our attention on the people we are designing for — not curricula, systems, programs, or anything else. Focusing on students means caring enough to understand them, value them, and ensure they feel connected to their learning environment. Furthermore, it insists that educators accept a truth we all know, from a visceral level, to be true: that no two kids are the same. They don’t all think the same. They don’t all feel the same. They don’t all learn the same. And they don’t all come to school with the same energy and drive. Only educators with the time and space to know that and lean into that can maximize how we help this next generation become who they want to be.

Devin Vodicka, author of Learner-Centered Leadership and award winning Superintendent of Vista Unified School District went directly to the students to ask what they wanted and needed. After 60 forums, the answers were clear:

Students want an environment where their strengths shine.

Students want the power of choice and agency in their own education.

Students want to move beyond the four walls of the school building.

Students want more flexibility in pacing their education.

Students want to feel connected to their peers and have increased interaction with them.

Students want to know their educators care about them.46

Relationship building is emerging as the dominant need and desire of students. A positive and welcoming classroom supports learning. A recent report by the National Academies of Sciences on teaching during a crisis notes, “The first priorities need to be equity and the health, well-being, and connections among students, families, and educators.”47 Gallup published its findings from a large student survey that showed students’ level of engagement decreasing from elementary to middle to high school.48 In California, the 2019 California Healthy Kids Survey stated that a mere 53% of 11th grade students replied that they felt connected to their school, a drop from just 62% in 7th grade.49

Positive relationships between educators and students as well as students and their peers pay huge dividends. The atmosphere created is filled with empathy, complete with trust, where students know they are valued, understood, and appreciated.

This is effective at all grades and ages. We see students thrive when they feel emotionally safe, supported, and cared for. In such environments, educators can demand more of them intellectually and raise expectations higher. Moreover, such environments can counteract the effect of outside traumas like homelessness, social trauma, crime, violence, and abuse, as well as negative emotions like fear, anxiety, and lack of confidence, all of which hinder a student’s ability to focus on learning.

Strong and healthy educator-student relationships create safe environments for students, both physically and emotionally. Educators must see themselves as collaborators with the students, other educators, the community, and other stakeholders. They can also support students by helping them learn how to cope with stresses and pressures they face. When educators model high value qualities like compassion, calmness, respect, and, above all, empathy, students learn to manage their feelings, establish routines, and settle disagreements peacefully.

In the blockbuster hit movie, Avatar, humans invade a distant planet. The natives of that planet, the Na’vi, are known for greeting each other but not by saying hi or hello. Instead, they greet each other by saying, “Oel ngati kameie.” What could be more empowering than acknowledging the uniqueness of another human being to truly see them as distinct from the eight billion others on the planet? In a world where we often overlook or ignore one another, expressing “I see you” carries profound significance. It goes beyond mere visual perception, conveying a deeper understanding and connection that we are all individuals with individual motivations, needs, and strengths. It affirms recognition, empathy, and respect, reminding us of our shared humanity and the importance of truly seeing and being seen.

Traditional education approaches struggle to be personalized. Worse, they too often fail to meet the challenges students face in the modern world. By embracing design thinking, educators are empowered to adjust as needed–to “see” the uniqueness of their students. They can create innovative, adaptable, and effective learning experiences. They don’t pressure their students to concern themselves with their GPAs because students are too busy testing the world, trying new things, and flexing their thought muscles, all to make an impact on the world and elevate the human experience. Students who are thinkers—thought leaders, even—can pivot to handle whatever the world throws at them.

How you make others feel is the difference between being expendable verses being irreplaceable.

Design thinking is centered on the idea of developing mindsets through methods that keep people open to lifelong learning. The key to unlocking a closed, fixed, or damaged mindset is empathy. As one educator put it, “Students don’t care how much you know till they know how much you care.” Students don’t just want to know that you care about whether they learn. Such a goal presupposes that learning is the student’s priority to the same degree that it is the school’s priority. No, true empathy starts with the educator’s mind as a blank slate for the student to write on.

Empathy requires us to understand and, more importantly, share the feelings of a student. We must put ourselves in their shoes so that we can view the world from their perspective, experience their emotions, and understand their thoughts and feelings. Empathy builds strong educator-student relationships and fosters compassion. It enables educators to connect with learners on a deeper level. Empathy is the foundation of teaching.

For example, instead of asking kids the age-old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or “What are you going to major in when you get to college?” Beginning with empathy looks like:

What energizes you?

What are your strengths?

What are you proud of?

What are you excited to be a part of?

Which technologies get you hyped up?

I will go out on a limb and suggest that the industrial model of school is one of the greatest dangers to students’ future success. Whether or not students will be able to survive the coming shape of the world depends on how well we educate them now to be essential to the companies and/or industries where they work.

It’s a lesson I learned in 2020. As Seth Godin writes in his best-selling book, Linchpin, I learned to be more than a cog in a corporate wheel. I learned to be vital. I had become a learner who could adapt to any situation. I was a chameleon. My underlying principle was to be someone an organization would think twice (or thrice) before considering letting go. And it worked. I had become a linchpin, creating solutions, innovating, solving problems, and elevating everything I touched.

Since then, I have devoted my career to helping create schools that teach the same philosophy and prepare our next generation to meet the world on its terms using design thinking practices.

Design thinking is used by many great thought leaders and some of the world’s most successful companies like Apple, Google, and IBM as a method of innovating and adapting. Why? Because it teaches both skills and mindsets that will be critical for the future we must all face–especially students just about to get their start in the working world.

Chapter 11
The Factory is Closed

Before I share how to use design thinking practices it’s crucial to clarify what we should not do. Often, people mistakenly associate design thinking with simplistic crafting activities involving cardboard and duct tape, or, at the other end of the spectrum, believe it’s confined solely to STEAM labs. However, design thinking transcends both of these narrow perceptions. It is not just about the physical act of creating things in a specific setting; rather, it is a method and mindset used across various disciplines to solve complex problems and create new opportunities.

So how does it change things?

While we often grow up thinking our careers, relationships, and learning is linear, life quickly tells us otherwise. Life is not linear, and designing for it should not be either. Design thinking moves through three phases - inspiration, ideation, and implementation.50 Design thinking is a nonlinear method and mindset to address complex challenges and identify opportunities, resulting in a back-and-forth movement between the stages of inspiration, ideation, and implementation in an effort to continuously improve upon their solutions.

Here’s what this looks like.

Inspiration Through Empathy

When we lead with empathy, we uncover insights that challenge our assumptions.

The conversations we have with each other and the observations about our own context we make as we engage in our world become the inspiration for how we think, how we feel, and how we create. We dream about opportunities, and while we recognize our constraints, we are not frozen by them.

This is what makes design thinking unique–that it begins with empathy.

Empathy, the ability to connect with, understand, and acknowledge the feelings and perspectives of others, is not just a human trait; it is the cornerstone of meaningful interactions in every aspect of life, including education. In the field of teaching, empathy transcends traditional boundaries, allowing educators to see beyond a mere collection of students to recognize and respond to everyone’s unique needs and potential.

At the heart of design thinking in education, empathy acts as the critical first step. It compels us to set aside our own assumptions and focus deeply on people and our context. In education this involves not just understanding a learner’s academic needs but actively listening to their questions, observing their interests, and building on their natural curiosities. It’s about creating a culture where solutions are not predetermined but are developed through a genuine understanding of the challenges students face, and the motivations that drive them.

In practice, this means fostering a learning environment where curiosity is nurtured and where every question a student asks helps to shape the educational journey. This approach not only enhances individual learning experiences but also cultivates a broader culture of innovation within educational settings. No longer do we rush to offer solutions; instead, we dedicate time to exploring the problem space, guided by the insights gained from our empathetic engagement with students.

By integrating empathy deeply and systematically into our educational practices, we position ourselves not just as educators but as architects of learning experiences that are inherently responsive and dynamic. This shift enhances educational outcomes and prepares both educators and students to thrive in a continuously evolving world.

Empathy is not a soft skill. In fact, it’s the hardest skill we learn—to relate to the world, to relate to people that matter the most to us. To me innovation is empathy in action. –Satya Nadella | CEO | Micrososft

With this inspiration from our empathy work, we are now more informed to begin defining the problem using our data and insights to turn our empathy into action. One method for doing so is to use the sentence starter, “How might we…?”

How might we… immediately implies optimism, suggesting from the outset that there is a way and that we don’t have to find it alone. We often say if we only had more money, more resources, and more time, we could achieve what we hoped for. We often don’t! Design thinking practices help us create solutions for people within our constraints. In truth, we are designing with people rather than for people. “We” means the user is an active participant in the design.

Ideation

With the problem clearly defined, we are now ready to begin thinking about solutions. Not one solution but many solutions. We call this ideation. This stage moves us away from pursuing perfection, which often prevents our ideas from being introduced into the world to see how they can evolve. Instead, we are free to present any and all ideas. Here are some strategies shared by Duncan Wardle, former Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney to generate ideas.

1. Ask What If

Ideation involves the process of asking “What If.” Simply posing the question invites disruption of the status quo. Look at what has happened because visionaries like Walt Disney dared to ask, “What if?” He had no blueprint to follow. No one had done what he planned to do. Even he didn’t know exactly how to do it. His first big disruption came in 1940 when he released Fantasia. This sparked a series of “what if” questions. For example, Duncan Wardle, former head of creativity and innovation at Disney shares that Walt wanted to spray mist inside the theater to bring the scenes to life. The challenge was that Disney didn’t own the movie theaters, and the answer from them was an absolute no.

2. Pick a Rule to Break

Walt Disney decided that altering the movie environment was the big idea he would implement, breaking the rule that theaters should be dark and lifeless while people sat still and stared straight ahead quietly.

3. Imagine If…

Disney swiftly moved from “What if” to “Imagine if…” by envisioning having control over the environment. That imagination led to Disney’s decision to bring the characters off the screen and into real life. In 1955, Disneyland opened as the culmination of his idea.

Once we’re ready, we narrow down the idea to what we want to implement first to get feedback. We receive feedback from the prototype itself (and the testing that happens in the next phase) as well as from the people we are working with.

Implementation

Testing allows us to create and launch our ideas. We recognize that our first try is not our last try. Design thinking is a cycle, and when we create cultures of innovation built on these practices, it becomes the way we work, the way we create, the way we solve challenges, and above all, the way we open the door to opportunities.

Design thinking moves us away from feeling overwhelmed about change to having the structures and support to scaffold our conversations and the strategies to build trust and create a shared vision in our organization. While it may be new to some in an organization, it’s a highly adaptable mindset that gets easier with time. Best of all, it quickly becomes the culture of the organization and is reinforced by the positive results it brings.

As Duncan Wardle shared in his interview, Walt Disney continued using design thinking because he understood that doing the same things in the same way would not meet the needs of an ever-changing consumer mindset. When he opened the doors to Disneyland on July 17, 1955 at 9:01 am, Walt simply said we will not have any customers in our park; we will only have guests… We will not have any employees; we will only have cast members cast for a role in the show. With that simple re-expression of the relationship between the employee and the customer as the cast member and the guest and putting the guests at the forefront, Walt created a level of hospitality that’s rarely been replicated.51

Design thinking is being used in industries around the world with incredible success. For example, let me tell you about Doug Dietz, an industrial designer at General Electric, who brought empathy as well as smarts to the company. His mission was to spearhead the team that designed sophisticated medical imaging systems for GE Healthcare. Though this was a high-ticket division of the company, coming in at $18 billion, and was award-winning (literally), it didn’t work. That is to say, the equipment itself worked perfectly. However, too often, people were terrified to lay on the long cold table and be wheeled into the big scary hole. This was especially true for children. When Dietz saw the machine being used during one child’s appointment, he realized his focus on completing the task shadowed his understanding of the people on the other end of his successful invention.

Many families, as many as 80%, had to resort to sedation to get their kids through the process so they could receive the critical imaging their doctors needed to help them heal. If a child refused, the appointment would be rescheduled and families would need to try again to get their children to “be brave.”

Doug decided he had two choices: quit in defeat or solve this problem. He chose the latter and used a design thinking approach to do it. After spending time meeting with lots of other industry professionals, he gathered ideas, driven by his empathy for children. Most notably, he read books that were centered around adventure, and this sparked his curiosity. Doug said, “I started to imagine how powerful this tool could be if I brought it back and got cross-functional teams to work together.”

What resulted was a name change where the scanner would become the “Adventure Series” scanner, changing the MRI room into a live action stage where the story played out, featuring the young patient as the lead character. Even though nothing changed with regard to the mechanics of the giant machine, kids viewed it differently. They saw the bright and colorful decals that had been placed on the machine and around the room from top to bottom. A carefully prepared script carried the kids through the story, leading up to the moment when they had to go in the “cave,” or “pirate ship,” or “amusement park ride.” The sounds and movements of the machine were portrayed to the children as parts of the story. The result was that sedation rates fell to 2%, and patient satisfaction soared to 90%. Rather than fearing the procedure, children asked when they could do it again.

Design Thinking in Education

Design thinking sounds great for Disney and GE, but you might be wondering how this relates to education. When design thinkers hear these stories, they begin by reflecting on their own industry by asking: “How might we…”

These three words allow design thinking to be applied in almost any educational space. For too long, we have treated the education space as separate from the rest of the world, assuming innovations elsewhere couldn’t happen in education. That’s a fixed mindset that excludes education from all the changes happening everywhere. A growth mindset suggests that education can be one of the first places where innovation can happen.

I first experienced the power of this method in 2014.

Dr. Kevin Lohenry, who was the program director at that time began with, “What if we could hire someone to modernize our program, even if they were not in our subject area?” That person was me. As a high school history educator, to say I felt a little out of place would be an understatement. Having no medical school background, when I joined I really had no choice but to sit and observe everything that was taking place.

During one observation, I found it strange that students were listening to the lectures and taking notes inside the “speaker notes” section of the PowerPoint that had been shared with them. I came to realize they were listening for what they thought they might be asked later on the test. After talking to the students, it became clear that they had not been taught how to use technology for learning. When surveyed 100% of the students shared they had not formally learned how to use their technology for note taking. Seeing their habits surprised me for two reasons: first, it was an inefficient method of note-taking, and second, it distracted from the learning.

It wasn’t so much that the faculty needed to be brought into the 21st century; it was the students! The students saw technology as a distraction from the course content. These were students who had mastered the “game of school.” They knew what they needed to do to get the grades and ultimately the degree.

We had to not only break the rules, we had to help them learn to break their rules.

Our goal changed from the traditional business question, “How do we bring our faculty into the 21st Century” to a more human-centered question: How do we integrate technology so that students find it valuable?

We knew we had to introduce students to a new way of accessing the benefits technology could bring. However, if we tried to teach that during the school year while they were already managing their college course load, they would not adopt the technology wholeheartedly. The solution was to create a three-hour orientation before any content was shared (along with two optional sessions). One-on-one, students could learn the core tools being used across all applications, like Notability, iMovie and Explain Everything. The real question was how to introduce students to technology.

To teach this technology to students, we used a design thinking challenge to answer this question: “How do you learn best?” True, lifelong learning is important, but what we learned from talking to our students was that none of them had really had a chance to develop the self-awareness around how they learned best. There just wasn’t time and space for that kind of introspection. By simply creating the space during that orientation session, they were able to think about the problem. Then, when we introduced the technology, they were able to see meaningful applications.

This is what makes design thinking so unique. It bridges the gap from where we are to where we want to be, lessening the difficulty of change. Change is hard (we covered this earlier). When people have a problem they want solved and when they see an opportunity for themselves, it’s motivation to learn.

As a result of this experience, we saw students sharing drawings, videos, recordings of their whiteboard notes, etc. While this is the reflection of one student, the sentiment was unanimous and validates the digital native myth I shared earlier:

I used to think that with all of the technology available on the market that more people would be technologically literate in the classroom, but I was surprised to see that people are not familiar with how to incorporate tech in the classroom, even if they are fluent with technology in other aspects of their life.

It is through experiences like this that I’ve come to learn that when we begin with empathy, what we think is challenged by what we learn.

Without observation techniques through design thinking, we would have trained faculty extensively and had no meaningful results. Without leaning in with empathy to better understand their fears, their challenges, and their motivations, we may not have uncovered that these students believed they were the only ones who were not confident in using technology in academic and professional settings. Technology introduced a layer of voice and choice that allowed students to create cartoons, concept maps, videos, and other aids that they were proud to share with other students to foster learning across classes. In our year-end survey, when we asked students how they felt about the integration of technology into their learning experiences, more than 90% shared that technology increased their engagement and understanding of the content.

This experience was a testament that creativity can in fact be revived at any age. In fact, a distinguishing characteristic that differentiates a design thinker from a non-design thinker is their level of agency when confronted with a challenge or an idea. Non-design thinkers go around and around the problem while design thinkers zero in on it by ensuring they are first identifying the correct problem. Then, they employ the seven design-thinking mindsets that inspire problem solving. That is, they start with empathy for the end user of their idea, they learn from their mistakes through prototyping their solutions, they grow their confidence, they accept not knowing, they are optimistic, and they try different iterations until one works.

Engaging in design thinking ultimately builds our creative confidence!

At this point, you might be thinking, “This is great for older students, but how does it work for younger ones?” Earlier I shared how my first introduction to design thinking was learning about a first-grade experience. So, let’s look at middle school.

In a study that included 200 students from grade 6, researchers worked with the educators during class time. One hundred of the two hundred students were coached on two specific design thinking strategies and then assigned a project where they could apply these skills.52 The two strategies included:

seeking out constructive feedback

identifying multiple possible outcomes to a challenge

Each of these strategies was designed to prevent what the researchers called “early closure,” where sometimes a solution is identified before the problem has been fully examined. After the class, all 200 of the students were presented with different challenges to see how they would approach them. The students who were taught using design thinking were more likely to go back and revise their work.

Interestingly, a pre-test showed that low-achieving students were behind their high-achieving peers when seeking feedback, a gap that the researchers say disappeared after design thinking strategies were implemented. This study is one of many that highlights the need for this to be taught to all students, not just advanced students.

Adapting and Refining: Iterating for Success

Embracing iteration and continuous improvement as an educational mindset is no easy task. It involves letting go of what was to consider what is and to imagine what could be. It requires educators to first develop a design mindset and then apply it to education. This transformational process demands a willingness to challenge traditional teaching methods and explore innovative approaches that cater to diverse learning styles and individual needs. To say that no two students are alike seems laughably obvious, yet traditional models approach education as if every student is the same as every other one.

Educators in design thinking models are open to feedback and are willing to adapt their practices based on evidence and student outcomes. Refining our methods can come from the latest information we learn, ideas we are inspired by, students and other stakeholders, and our colleagues. Fostering a culture of collaboration among educators, students, and even parents is crucial to creating a supportive environment for experimentation and growth. Embracing iteration in education ultimately leads to a dynamic and responsive learning ecosystem that equips students with the skills they need to thrive in an ever-changing world.

Chapter 12
Design as a Mindset

When solving unstructured problems and working with new information, knowledge and skills alone are not always enough. If we expect today’s students to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, they must be nimble and agile and have a mindset that allows them to deal with rapid changes. IDEO (2019) highlights the seven mindsets that you enhance and develop over time as you engage in the design thinking process.

The first is the ability to learn from failure. By engaging in rapid prototyping, this ability helps us to avoid spending too much time on any one idea. Rather, we continue to learn from failure and iterate upon our ideas. Here we tell ourselves, “The only difference between where I am today and who I want to be tomorrow is how I learn from failure.”

The next mindset is making which allows the student to have a bias toward action, seeing their ideas come to life. They draw satisfaction from the process of problem-solving and creating new things or sharing new ideas. Here we tell ourselves, “Done is better than perfect.”

Another critical attitude is one of creative confidence. Through developing creative confidence, the traditional definitions of creativity as being a great artist are challenged by believing that your ideas can bring about a positive change and that you have the skills to see your idea through. Here we tell ourselves, “Ideas are the currency of the future and no idea is too big.”

Empathy is extremely important. We cannot create sustainable solutions if we do not reach outside ourselves. Here we tell ourselves, “What I think is often challenged by what I learn.”

Comfort with ambiguity is next because today’s world requires us to be comfortable when we don’t know what the answer is. We must give ourselves permission to explore and continue to be curious. Here we tell ourselves, “My questions are the difference that make a difference.”

The next skill is optimism. It’s role is to continue to drive you forward. It is easy to become overwhelmed by challenges today. However, when we begin with optimism, we realize that we can bring about a positive effect.

Lastly, students must understand and embrace iteration. By engaging in iteration we tell ourselves, “My first try is not my last try.”53

The Role of Mindset in a Changing World

There are many mindsets one can adopt and embrace. Currently, they are often separated into two major categories: fixed vs growth. A fixed mindset is characterized by believing that abilities and qualities are fixed and unchangeable. Individuals with a fixed mindset tend to avoid challenges, fear failure, and view setbacks as personal limitations. They often seek validation and prioritize looking smart or talented over learning and improvement. They will teach to the test, insist on order, and gravitate to one educator style.

On the other hand, a growth mindset embraces the belief that intelligence, skills, and talents can be developed through learning, exploration, dedication, effort, and perseverance. Those with a growth mindset embrace challenges, see failures as learning opportunities, and understand that people are individuals and are subject to change and grow over time. They value the process of learning and are motivated by the opportunity to expand their abilities while helping children expand theirs.

While a fixed mindset may limit potential and hinder personal growth, a growth mindset fosters a sense of resilience, optimism, and continuous self-improvement. It enables individuals to embrace challenges, overcome obstacles, and unlock their full potential, ultimately leading to greater achievements and fulfillment in various aspects of life. A growth mindset understands that knowing that we don’t know everything is a gift. It opens the door to discovery.

As we navigate the complexities of this AI-driven era, one critical question emerges: What mindset do we need to not only adapt but excel in a world where artificial intelligence reshapes every aspect of our lives?

Nurturing an AI-Mindset

According to the 2024 Microsoft Work Trend Index, the adoption of AI in the workplace reveals a broad spectrum of users, ranging from skeptics to power users. This spectrum categorizes individuals into four distinct groups: skeptics, who rarely use AI; novices, who are just starting out; explorers, who use AI with moderate frequency; and power users, who leverage AI extensively and proficiently.54

The differences between these groups, especially between skeptics and power users, are striking. Power users, who are intimately familiar with AI technologies, integrate them into their workflows several times a week, achieving significant time savings—over 30 minutes daily. This familiarity with AI not only makes their workload more manageable but also enhances their creativity and allows them to concentrate on priority tasks. Remarkably, 92% of power users report that AI boosts their creativity and helps manage overwhelming workloads, while 93% feel it enables them to focus on the most critical aspects of their jobs. Additionally, AI contributes positively to their motivation and enjoyment at work, with over 90% expressing an increased satisfaction and engagement in their professional roles.

Becoming a power user involves cultivating new habits centered around the innovative use of AI. Power users are significantly more likely to experiment with AI applications; they often pause before tasks to consider how AI might assist, persist through initial failures to achieve desired outcomes, and continuously explore new AI functionalities. This proactive and persistent approach is not merely about enhancing individual tasks but extends to rethinking and redesigning business processes for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Moreover, power users typically start and end their day with AI, using it to prepare for and wrap up their daily tasks. They apply AI to a variety of functions—from catching up on missed meetings and analyzing data to designing visual content and interacting with customers. This integration of AI into daily routines exemplifies a profound shift in work patterns, emphasizing the transformative potential of an AI-driven approach.

To truly build on a growth mindset in today’s digital age, one must also cultivate an AI-mindset. This mindset extends the principles of a growth mindset by specifically focusing on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance outcomes across all areas of life, not just within educational settings. Those with an AI-mindset are:

Adaptive and Flexible: They have the AI skills to personalize experiences and solutions, adapting their methods to meet the diverse needs and challenges of their environment, whether in education, business, healthcare, or any other field.

Innovative and Explorative: They continuously experiment with AI tools to foster creativity and enhance problem-solving capabilities, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in their respective domains.

Data-Driven: They leverage the power of data analytics to make informed decisions, improving strategies and outcomes in a measurable way.

Ethically Aware: They lead with integrity as they conscientiously navigate the ethical implications of using AI, ensuring that technology serves to enhance rather than compromise their practices.

An AI-mindset is crucial for anyone looking to stay relevant and effective in a rapidly evolving world. It goes beyond merely adapting to new technologies; it’s about fundamentally transforming how we think, learn, and approach problem-solving. By embracing an AI-mindset, individuals across all professions can prepare themselves and others for a future where AI is an integral part of daily life and work.

This mindset is not about replacing the human element with technology but enhancing our capabilities with AI’s support. It recognizes AI’s potential to transform traditional paradigms—whether in education, business, or healthcare—making processes more engaging, inclusive, and effective. For educators, it particularly underscores the importance of preparing students for a digital future, ensuring they are equipped with the necessary skills and mindsets to thrive. Understanding the significance of this mindset from an early age sets the foundation for lifelong learning and adaptation. It empowers young minds to think critically about their interactions with technology and prepares them to navigate an increasingly automated and AI-driven world.

This perspective is not merely theoretical but a practical approach involving continuous learning, adaptation, and the ethical use of technology. It encourages educators and professionals alike to not only keep pace with technological advancements but also to lead educational and industry innovation. Ultimately, adopting an AI-mindset ensures that we are all equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities presented in a rapidly changing world.

As we embrace the potential of AI to reshape education, it’s crucial to understand how different mindsets can influence the adoption of new technologies in the classroom. The following table demonstrates how educators with fixed, growth, and AI mindsets might respond to the challenges of implementing a new technology:

Implementing a New Technology in the Classroom
Scenario | Fixed Mindset | Growth Mindset | AI Mindset
Challenge | This new technology is too hard for me to understand. | This is an opportunity to learn something new. | How can AI tools help accelerate my learning by creating a personalized plan for me?
Effort | I don’t think I have time to learn this. | With practice and perseverance, I can get 1% better each day. | How can I use AI to save time this week to prioritize areas I need more time to focus on?
Feedback | Criticism means I’m not good at this. | Constructive criticism will help me improve my work. | I can ask my AI tool for 3 suggestions for blindspots before sharing my work.
Setbacks | Mistakes prove that I’m not capable. | Mistakes are part of the learning process. | How can AI tools coach me as I make a plan for a comeback.
Peer Success | Others’ success with this technology makes me feel inadequate. | I can learn from colleagues who are successfully using this technology. | Collaborating with colleagues and AI tools can lead to shared best practices and improved outcomes. Why work alone!

How to Use This Table: Reflect on how you approach new challenges and technologies in your classroom. Identify which mindset you most often default to and consider how adopting a growth or AI mindset can positively influence your teaching practice. Use the AI mindset to think specifically about how AI tools can assist you in enhancing your students’ learning experiences.

The Tech Skeptic

Have you ever caught yourself using the latest technology in your classroom and wondered, “Is this really making education better, or is it just another shiny new toy?” I’ve been there, and it’s a bit like when you buy the latest phone—not much changes in how you use it, but it feels exciting, at least for a while. Sadly, it isn’t long before it’s just another phone. So if you are feeling skeptical or uncertain, your prior experiences may have something to do with it.

As we enter yet another inflection point with generative AI, there are many new shiny toys, all vying for your attention and dollars. The challenges are real and the opportunities are infinite. As emerging technologies enter traditional institutions, where the policies and practices have not kept pace, we find ourselves in a toxic culture of blame, anxiety, and fear. A culture that is the antithesis of what makes us feel as if we have the best job ever.

In our personal lives, we’ve been using these technologies as they have emerged. One can hardly imagine a day without using the navigation on their phone, a facetime or texts with friends and family, posting on social media, or using ChatGPT to help you draft that email.

So how did we get here? Surely there is no shortage of technology in our classrooms. One reason might be what I call the “substitution trap,” where we swap old tools for new ones without truly enhancing the learning experience. For decades, like a game of spinning plates, we’ve added and added to our “plates,” and now the profession and the people in it are on the verge of toppling over.

We cannot afford to do the same thing again. For the sake of our educational system and the people in it, we must make teaching the best job ever again. We must break the cycle of developing solutions only to hear all the reasons why it can’t work. Such thinking causes people to stop before they even start. We must return to the beginner’s mind that frees us from the prison of problems and gives us opportunities to try and fail in the quest for educational success.

The old model of rolling students down the educational assembly line, rote learning, and filling in the blanks has left them woefully inept at thinking through the issues of the world effectively. Students are people, and people are different. Not every kid wants to build with blocks. Not every kid wants to learn robotics. Not every kid loves playing an instrument.

Now that computers can tell us the facts with a few keystrokes, learning must become something else…something new. Schools must transform into the creation of places that produce life-ready learners who know the questions, not necessarily the answers.

This is a difficult transition for kids to make. However, it is even harder for educators to step out of the information dispensing role and step into the learning facilitation role. When that process begins, they can invite students to make the leap from student to learner.

One way educators do this is by inviting students to contrast the behavior of a student vs that of a learner. When students can see them side-by-side, they can better uNderstand how to shift from what they have been exposed to all their educational lives to a new world where the focus is on them. Thinking in a more singular way is a growth mindset attribute that paves a runway for stellar learners.

A new era has begun where learners are at the head of the line, seizing opportunities. The journey from traditional to innovative education is not just necessary but urgent. We stand at a crossroads where the decisions we make today will shape the future of learning. It’s time for educators, policymakers, and society to come together to design a new way forward.

Act 3
Introduction to Design39

Inner SPARK Affirmation: Set Yourself Free

Say this out loud with me: I am a powerhouse of potential, free from the limiting beliefs that whisper ‘I can’t’ or ‘We can’t’. Every day, I consciously choose to dismantle these barriers, affirming my capacity to achieve and excel. I transform self-doubt into self-assurance and hesitation into bold action. My journey is about transcending boundaries and redefining the achievable. With each challenge, I reinforce my conviction that limitations are merely starting points for exploration and growth. My actions are bold statements of my belief in endless possibilities. I am not just breaking old patterns; I am creating a legacy of empowerment for myself and others. Together, we turn the impossible into the possible.

Chapter 13
Is There Another Way?

When we think about transforming education and making teaching the best job ever, one word that often comes up is “culture.” But what exactly do we mean by culture, and how does it relate to the world of education?

To understand this, let’s take a moment to explore the etymology of the word “culture.” Originally derived from the Latin verb “colere,” which meant “to cultivate,” the term was initially used to describe the cultivation of plants. Over time, its meaning expanded to encompass various fields, such as anthropology, sociology, and psychology. However, for our purposes, we want to focus on the biological application of the term.

In microbiology, “culture” refers to the process of growing and propagating microorganisms in a controlled laboratory setting. To do this successfully, scientists must provide the right conditions–the optimal temperature, nutrients, pH levels, and other factors that allow these tiny organisms to thrive.

When I began my journey as an educator, I quickly realized that the traditional school system I entered was fraught with challenges that hindered the cultivation of an optimal learning culture. The very grammar of schooling–the structures, routines, and practices that define the day-to-day experience of teaching and learning–seemed to work against the kind of dynamic, student-centered education that I knew was possible.

As we recognize the limitations of our current educational approaches, it becomes clear that incremental changes are not enough to overcome the entrenched barriers that limit the potential of our students and educators. To truly transform education, we need a structured, principled approach that goes to the very heart of how we design our learning environments and educational experiences.

Design thinking helps turn obstacles into opportunities. To find those opportunities, we just need to be willing to ask the right questions. Seth Godin did this very thing when he interviewed 10,000 people across 90 different countries and asked them what characteristics existed that made them feel they had the best job ever. The top four responses were:

I surprised myself with what I could accomplish.

I learned that I could work independently.

The team built something important.

People treated me with respect.

This is the exact opposite of what we hear from educators in schools today. Instead, they see their jobs as difficult, uninspiring, unrewarding, and controlled by curricula and programs they had no hand in creating.

What we have simply isn’t working, and layering technology on top isn’t the solution. And accepting the status quo as inevitable isn’t the answer either. We must not accept a broken system that demoralizes the people we need the most. We might not know what we design next looks like, we might not have the answers, but we must believe there is another way.

We must begin by asking, “What if…”

Earlier, I shared how Walt Disney used this strategy to create Disneyland in 1940. He isn’t alone.

Netflix: What if people could rent movies without ever leaving their homes, avoiding late fees entirely? This led to the creation of a mail-order rental system, which eventually revolutionized into a streaming giant changing how we consume media.

Uber: What if you could summon a ride from your phone, anywhere and anytime? This question disrupted the traditional taxi service model and transformed urban mobility on a global scale.

Amazon: What if people could buy anything from the comfort of their home with just a click? This thought pioneered e-commerce, turning a small online bookstore into the world’s largest online retailer.

Tesla: What if cars could run entirely on electricity and outperform gasoline-powered vehicles? This led to the development of high-performance electric cars that are pushing the boundaries of automotive technology.

Airbnb: What if you could turn your home into a hotel? This simple question opened the door to a new way of traveling, allowing people to stay in personal homes instead of hotels, fostering a global community.

Spotify: What if music listeners could stream any song they wanted, whenever they wanted, without buying individual tracks or albums? This concept reshaped the music industry by focusing on access over ownership.

These examples demonstrate how companies can originate from a simple curiosity, leading to innovations that challenge and change existing norms and industries. And it’s not just companies. In this chapter, I’ll share how a public school in San Diego, California dared to ask, “What if there was a different way to do school?”

Introducing Design39 School

While grappling with outdated structures as a high school history educator, I learned about Design39, an innovative school just an hour away from me. This school seemed to be defying the traditional grammar of schooling. I was fascinated by how they were able to challenge the very structures and practices that we often feel are impossible to overcome–from the physical layout of their classrooms to the way they approached curriculum and assessment.

A TK-8 school, the Design39 Campus utilized design thinking to define and design a new grammar of school, providing students with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to innovate, create new products, services, and business models so that they can thrive in future workplaces and as global citizens. The results indicate strong agreement among the educators between practicing design thinking and developing in-demand skills such as creativity, problem finding, collaboration, and communication. In addition to these skills, the students are developing a strong mindset of empathy, creative confidence, learning from failure, and optimism. Seeing their students and themselves develop the skills and mindset of a design thinker demonstrated the value in using design thinking and fueled their motivation to continue. It strengthened their self-efficacy and helped them embrace, not fear, change.

And because this is almost always the first question people ask, yes Design39 students also take standardized tests. In fact they score well above the state average in both mathematics and English language arts, and the school has been formally recognized as a Classroom of the Future. But it was done by focusing less on subject area content and more on the learning environment and collaborative education.

This may sound like an educational version of Fantasy Island. But the educators, administration, and students at Design39 are bringing this vision to life every day. We will use them as our case study throughout this chapter to demonstrate that the idea of creating the right conditions for growth is precisely what we need to explore when it comes to education.

Ask the Right Questions

What struck me most during my initial visit to Design39 was the way educators collaborated with each other. They weren’t confined to their individual classrooms or subject areas. Instead, they worked together seamlessly, sharing ideas, co-teaching, and creating interdisciplinary learning experiences that truly put students at the center. It was a level of collaboration I had rarely seen in traditional schools, and it left a lasting impression on me.

Technology was simply a tool in the hands of dedicated and capable learners, big learners and little learners as they liked to say. The Design39 community was shaping their destiny with design thinking. A unanimous sentiment shared across the educators, the learning experience designers (LEDs) as they call them at Design39, was that their ability to integrate design thinking was a result of social interactions with their peers.

The depth of examples shared by all the LEDs demonstrated not only their deep understanding of integration but how they had been able to achieve it and why it was valuable. Over 70% of the LEDs interviewed shared that before Design39 they had felt as if they were isolated in their classroom, having many ideas but unable to implement them all. However, when they came to Design39, collaboration with their peers allowed them to do things they had always dreamed of doing.

When we asked educators at Design39 how they felt about their jobs, their sentiments mirror the ones mentioned by Seth Godin in the Song of Significance as the four things that make employees feel their job is the best job they’ve ever had:

I surprised myself with what I could accomplish.

I could work independently.

The team built something important.

People treated me with respect.55

At Design39, educators believed they had the best job ever. So, what makes this school different from most?

They had a culture that was ripe for learning, causing me to wonder why this place was the exception and not the norm. I saw firsthand the ways in which educators (LEDs) collaborated with each other at the start of each morning, designed their own schedule, and literally designed a school day that would be optimal for the students. They integrated each of their strengths and subject areas into a learning experience kids couldn’t resist.

They had done what other schools insisted couldn’t be done. It sparked my curiosity about how others could replicate it...how others must replicate it. My heart ached for students in classrooms across the country that didn’t have this surge of energy running through it. I felt strangely obligated to stop teaching and focus my efforts on duplicating the principles that undergirded Design39 in every school that would listen.

I’ve always been driven to find ways to help educators do what I believe educators do best: ignite that human spark. The best educators don’t just inspire within the four walls of our classrooms. And, as Stacey Lamb will later share, design thinking isn’t something new; educators are inherent design thinkers.

But here’s the problem: we’ve been asking the wrong questions.

Over the past few decades, we’ve asked business questions, not human questions–we’ve asked how we increase test scores instead of how we make school a place where kids love learning. In other words, we asked the wrong questions and, as a result, got the wrong answers. This leads to “brilliant” solutions to the wrong problems.

A brilliant solution to the wrong problem is worse than no solution at all. So, solve the right problem.
-Don Norman

One way to turn these business questions into human questions is to ask: How might we make teaching the best job ever? How do we create conditions for learning to be….something the opposite of boring? How do we cultivate a school culture that not only supports irreplaceable educators but also inspires them to do their best work?

Just as a microbiologist carefully crafts the perfect environment for his cultures, we as educators must ask ourselves: what are the optimal conditions for learning to flourish? What kind of culture do we need to create in our schools and classrooms to support the growth and development of our students? How do we create schools, districts, and systems that recognize the value of educators and create a culture where teaching becomes the best job ever?

Educators are irreplaceable. Even in an AI world (or perhaps especially in an AI world), the role of educators is vital. There is no other profession so adept at touching the lives of others and leaving a lasting impact for a person’s lifetime. Teaching is unique from almost every other profession in the way it helps young people understand what it means to learn, live, and earn in an AI world. It’s the best job ever.

However, the predominant state of teaching in the U.S. does not support the concept that teaching is the best job ever. A Pew Research study of more than 2,500 educators reported some rather shocking stats:

68% of people in education find their job overwhelming

52% would not advise a young person to become a educator

70% say their school is understaffed

53% expect education to be even worse in 5 years56

Similar findings were uncovered in a Unesco Global Report on educators where it was reported that the educator shortage has reached drastic levels, and teaching needs to be “recast” as a “collaborative profession, (including) lifelong professional development, professional autonomy, (and) engaging educators in decision-making.”57

Chapter 14
Three Little Things–One Giant Impact

When I asked the Design39 LEDs how their experiences compared to previous roles in traditional environments they shared:

We have the freedom to make changes.

We’re working on something bigger than ourselves.

I’m trusted as a professional.

And the unanimous response across all LEDs–I am not working alone on an island.

That experience stayed with me long after I left my visit to Design39. I wanted to feel what those educators clearly felt. I couldn’t stop thinking about how powerful educator collaboration could be in transforming the grammar of schooling. I wondered what made it possible at Design39 and how other schools could foster similar cultures of collaboration. Those questions lingered in my mind for years, until finally, four years later, I decided to turn them into a formal research project.

They were overwhelming questions–questions that leave us overwhelmed with our frustrations toward the current culture. We assume that we are stuck, so we stop before we can start. We want to dream of creating something amazing, but we don’t want to grapple with another round of disappointments. Besides, most educators have been “here” before, where they’ve tried different applications, systems, and methods to solve these challenges. As Einstein famously said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

It’s the dreaded substitution trap where we try to add to a failing system hoping it will be the kindling to start the fires of change. However, we feel discouraged to make the effort because something about this feels familiar. Design39 proved that it could all be different. Not different–different by design. So, let’s step inside the world of Design39 and discover what it takes to cultivate a culture of excellence in education. Get ready to be inspired, challenged, and equipped with innovative ideas for making teaching the best job ever.

When Design39 first sought out to design a school they began by asking, “How can we change the way we do school?”

That was the right question, one that led them to adopt a monumental vision: “To create life-ready thought leaders who elevate humanity.” All that was left was to figure out how to accomplish it. And they did this by applying first principles.

We Can’t Do ___ Because of Our Class Scheduling

Many educational difficulties are rooted in the industrial-age education mindset that created public schools. The goal, back then, was to prepare students for factory work. Students were expected and trained to move from one block of subject matter to the next with little to no integration between the different areas. Math could follow gym and be followed by Spanish. For decades, we have asked students to turn off one part of their brains and switch on another to make the transition. And we gave them minutes to make that shift as they hurried from one classroom to another.

Tight class periods restrict the time available for each subject, which can hinder in-depth learning. Students may only have a brief period to grasp complex concepts and engage in meaningful discussions before moving on to the next class. Any educator can tell you about a spirited discussion interrupted by the dreaded bell. The time constraint limits the opportunity for students to explore topics in-depth, ask questions, and engage in critical thinking.

Worse, the disruption of flow and focus impedes concentration. Just as educators have laid the foundation for a topic and students start to immerse themselves in a subject, they must switch gears and redirect their focus to a new subject. Is it any wonder that we are witnessing higher levels of stress and anxiety among students? The pressure to quickly shift from one class to another, gather materials, and be punctual or face consequences can cause students to feel overwhelmed by the constant rush at levels that can negatively impact their overall well-being and ability to focus on learning.

When applying first principles we might ask:

Could we imagine a school day optimized not by the clock, but by the natural rhythms of student engagement and cognitive fatigue?

What are we trying to achieve with each minute of schooling?

The Design39 Model:
What If We Created Our Own Schedule?

At Design39, scheduling is learner centered. The traditional schedule of 50-minute class periods presents a host of challenges, hindering the opportunity for an interdisciplinary and inquiry-based model of learning. Moreover, its rigidity does not allow for deeper learning, flexibility to adapt to the needs of learners, or the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues. By providing time for integrated daily collaboration, educators can work together to talk about how to integrate design thinking into the curriculum. For 50 minutes each morning, beginning at 8:00 am, educators have dedicated collaboration time. It is here that they engage in design thinking as they design learning experiences. These 50 minutes each day allow them to adapt to the needs of their learners, to reflect and iterate upon the experiences they design, and, above all, it is here in this time that they support one another. There are no rotating classes at Design39. Instead, the K-8 day runs from 8:50 am – 2:55 pm. Based upon the learning experience being designed, the students move between Homeroom, Integrated Learning Time (ILT), Deep Dives, Explorations, and Minds in Motion.

We Can’t Do ________ Because of Limited Collaboration and Engagement

Meaningful collaboration and engagement among educator-to-educator, educator-to-student, student-to-educator, and student-to-student rarely occurs under the traditional model. Workshops, group activities, discussions, and project-based learning require adequate time for students to collaborate, share ideas, and engage in meaningful interactions. educators who are strong in one area rarely get to team up with educators who are strong in a different area to create the most powerful learning for students. Collaboration in some schools is soundly discouraged as educators are expected to stay in their classrooms, follow the curriculum, and always stay within their prescribed roles and policies.

When applying first principles, we might ask:

Is the one-educator, one-class paradigm the most effective way for learning to occur?

Considering the essence of learning as a collaborative process, what structural changes would we implement if we designed school systems from the ground up to maximize interaction, teamwork, and real-world problem-solving?

What If We Didn’t Work Alone On Our Own Islands?

At Design 39, Learning Experience Designers (LEDs) and students took on an interdisciplinary project that combined westward expansion with elements of science and humanities, focusing on evolution. The innovative twist? Students were tasked with choosing specific topics within the westward expansion theme to create educational books tailored for fourth graders at their school. This project shifted the educational focus from educator-centered assignments to creating meaningful, audience-specific content.

Rather than working in isolation on a generic assignment, the students engaged directly with the fourth graders to understand their reading levels, interests, and how best to communicate complex subjects effectively. This approach was a departure from traditional tasks that often end once assignments are graded. Instead, it provided a purposeful application of their learning, emphasizing empathy by directly involving the students in understanding their audience’s needs—a key pillar of design thinking.

The feedback from the younger students was integral to the learning process. One LED highlighted the impact of this interaction, saying,

They (middle schoolers) come back, and they are like ‘Oh that was terrible.’ So we say, ‘Ok what was terrible about it?’ and they say, ‘The fourth graders didn’t understand anything we were saying.’ We talked about empathy, making this a real-world moment. Middle schoolers can be very stubborn, and this failure was a great moment for open feedback.

This cycle of creating, receiving feedback, and iterating is central to design thinking and fosters resilience and adaptability among students. This project exemplified the core skills associated with design thinking:

Learning from failure

Creative confidence

Comfort with ambiguity

Empathy

Making and Iterating

LEDs across grade levels collaborated to integrate these principles into their curriculum, demonstrating that even those accustomed to traditional teaching environments could innovate and enhance learning outcomes through collaborative and applied design thinking.

Lesson Feature | Traditional Assignment | Design Thinking Experience
Objective | Complete a task for educator assessment. | Create meaningful content for an authentic audience.
Engagement | Individual work based on set guidelines. | Collaborative work based on user needs and feedback.
Outcome | Assignment ends with grading. | Continuous iteration based on real-world application.
Skills | Subject knowledge. | Subject knowledge and empathy, iteration, user-focused design, and teamwork.
Feedback | Often limited to educator’s evaluation. | Direct from real users leading to meaningful iterations.
Student Motivation | Driven by grades. | Driven by creating useful, real-world artifacts.

This table underscores how design thinking not only changes the format of educational tasks but deeply influences the engagement, objectives, and outcomes of learning experiences.

By adopting and adapting the design thinking framework, Design39 educators have shown how embedding real-world interactions and feedback mechanisms into projects can profoundly influence educational outcomes, preparing students with the skills needed for a complex, ever-evolving world.

We Can’t Do __ Because of Standardized Testing

From the outset, there are some standardization challenges. On one hand, we preach the ideology of individuality, professing the idea that each student is special and unique. On the other hand, we educate as if each student is just like every other. The fact that some students do well and others excel comforts us, lulling us to sleep as millions of students get lost in a system that doesn’t fit them.

In his book The End of Average Todd Rose writes:

It is not that the average is never useful. Averages have their place. If you’re comparing two diverse groups of people, like comparing the performance of Chilean pilots with French pilots—as opposed to comparing two individuals from each of those groups—then the average can be useful. But the moment you need a pilot, or a plumber, or a doctor, the moment you need to teach this child or decide whether to hire that employee—the moment you need to make a decision about any individual—the average is useless. Worse than useless, in fact, because it creates the illusion of knowledge, when in fact the average disguises what is most important about an individual.58

Rose’s comparison highlights that while averages might have some use in certain contexts, they fall short when it comes to understanding and nurturing individual students. Just as you wouldn’t choose a pilot based on the average performance of their nationality, we can’t rely on averages to design educational experiences that meet the unique needs of each learner. This insight challenges us to rethink our approach to standardization in education. If we genuinely believe that each student is unique, then we need to create systems that are flexible enough to accommodate and celebrate that diversity. It’s not about fitting students into predetermined boxes but about creating spaces where each individual can thrive.

Traditional schools often follow a standardized curriculum designed to meet broad educational objectives. While standardized curricula have their merits, they can also limit flexibility and creativity in teaching. The focus on standardized testing as a measure of success further narrows the curriculum, leading to a “teach-to-the-test” mentality that may not foster deep understanding of critical thinking skills.

Traditional schools often face constraints in catering to students’ individual learning styles and needs. Due to large class sizes and standardized approaches, it can be challenging to provide differentiated instruction that addresses students’ diverse abilities and learning preferences. This one-size-fits-all approach may not effectively engage all learners or tap into their full potential.

When applying first principles we might ask: What if we designed educational experiences not for the ‘average’ student, but for unique individuals with varied strengths and aspirations?

What If We Took a First Principles Approach to Standards and Instruction?

At Design39, they think differently when it comes to instruction. Rather than teaching to a test or narrowing instruction to their specific discipline, they consider ways to include as many standards as possible into a single educational experience. As one learning experience designer shared:

In truth, many of the standards overlap. Math is part of science. History is part of language. English is part of physical education. You can’t integrate alone; you need the different lenses other disciplines provide. This is one of the fundamental tenets of engaging in design-based work–content is not taught in isolation, nor do people work in isolation.

From Collecting Dots to Connecting Dots

Taking a first principles approach to asking these questions allowed them to move from a culture of compliance where learners are “collecting dots” to a culture of innovation where learners are “connecting dots.”

Learners learn more than math, science, history, etc. They learn to look at the world through new eyes. This critical and observant lens allows them to notice things others miss. Their increased engagement and enthusiasm for learning enhanced problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Their improved collaboration and communication abilities make them observers of the world who take in information differently than rote learners do. Students also gain exposure to various technologies and tools, preparing them for future careers in STEM fields, creative fields, business and finance, and every other discipline, encouraging them to pursue higher education with an open mind about their futures.

The “subject areas” are still a part of a design thinking model, but educators discover how to blur the lines between “subjects” and the real world. What veteran educator has not heard the dreaded question, “When am I ever going to have to know this?” Or worse, “I will never use this information again.” Design thinking learning answers that question long before it is asked because students use their knowledge in real-world simulations.

For example, students are invited to create budgets, write mission statements, make projections, and do everything an entrepreneur or a C-suite executive might do. They are using the “subject area” skills in real-world applications. Students don’t write in response to a prompt; they write for a purpose. They don’t use math to complete a worksheet; they use math to determine the profitability of their simulated million-dollar toy company. Through these, they learn skills of conjecture, opinion, debate, narrative, etc.

Testing remains a part of most school district policies. Testing is also a part of the design thinking model. However, testing should not be a source of anxiety for students because they are familiar with the subject from an interactive and deeply integrated place. This is learning they will take with them for a lifetime rather than learning for the test and forgetting. Failing a test only means another excellent opportunity to strengthen learning and ask why, what, when, where, who, and how. Learners know they can try again and see how much they have learned from one test to another.

Finally, students become learners, not purveyors of subjects and robots that spit out facts to pass tests. As such, the world belongs to them, and nothing is impossible for them. Once they know how to learn, they can learn anything. That is how we prepare students to compete in an aggressive world of constant change.

Learning experiences can be conducted in a way that fosters deeper learning. 59That is what educators of design thinking discovered to be true as they integrated a nuanced understanding of their learners’ individual growth and development with a growing motivation to persist in cross-curricular collaboration with other LEDs. Furthermore, it meant that learners had a more personalized learning and assessment experience because where they are in their learning journey may vary from student to student.

This leads to another value derived from integrating design thinking that was shared by many of the LEDs–a shift in grading practices, moving away from grading for completion with numbers and letters and towards grading for growth based on competencies. Grading for growth allows learners to see themselves as a whole child. As one educator put it,

Understanding the whole child, not just standards, and what they are capable of–not what they can’t do but what they CAN do, this is what we focus on. And that’s then what they focus on.

For example, in a math lesson, students were presented with the following problem: There were 125 kids in 3rd grade, and the principal gave each 9 tickets for helping out. How many tickets did the principal give out in total? Instead of having the students complete the answer on a worksheet, they did their work in journals and then came up to the board to share the different ways in which they had approached the problem. The variety in approaches and thinking was fascinating. Throughout the process, the LED prompted the students with questions such as, “Did you use multiplication or addition?”, “Did anyone else use this strategy?”, and “Did anyone use their brain in a different way?” Students learned and taught others as they shared their different strategies. They interacted with the content, demonstrating the skills and mindsets the LEDs strive to enhance and develop in them.

The LEDs highlighted that at Design39, learning has become not just about compliance and completion or a letter or number grade. Rather, it has become about what educators and students learned and what they’d change next time. This strengthens learners’ skills and mindsets, allowing them to be in control of their learning experience and providing them with the coping strategies to navigate complex challenges, especially when solutions are unknown.

The transformation the LEDs see in the skills and mindsets their learners are mastering fuels their intrinsic motivation to persist in integrating design thinking into their curriculum. Furthermore, these results increase their self-efficacy about their ability to integrate design thinking, driving them to show up each and every day for collaboration with their grade level teams to continue in this direction. The survey results shared that over 90% of the LEDs see the value of design thinking in developing the skills of creativity, problem finding, collaboration, and communication.

Light Your SPARK #7: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities

Overview: People often feel constrained by various barriers in their educational environments, whether related to resources, policies, or mindsets. This exercise helps you identify these barriers and transform them into opportunities by reframing them as “How might we” questions, encouraging creative problem-solving and innovation.

Here’s How:

List Your Barriers: Write down the barriers you feel exist in your educational environment. These could be related to resources, policies, mindsets, or any other challenges you face.

Example: “We can’t implement new technology because we lack funding.”

Reframe into “How Might We” Questions: Transform each barrier into an opportunity by reframing it as a “How might we” question. This approach encourages creative thinking and problem-solving.

Example: “How might we secure funding or resources to implement new technology in our classroom?”

Brainstorm Solutions: For each “How might we” question, brainstorm possible solutions or strategies to overcome the barrier.

Example: “How might we secure funding or resources to implement new technology in our classroom?”

Seek grants or sponsorships

Partner with local businesses or community organizations

Implement a fundraising campaign

Worksheet:

Barrier | How Might We... | Possible Solutions
We can’t implement new technology because we lack funding. | How might we secure funding or resources to implement new technology in our classroom? | Seek grants or sponsorships - Partner with local businesses or community organizations - Implement a fundraising campaign

This exercise helps you identify and overcome barriers by reframing challenges as opportunities for innovation and problem-solving. By turning obstacles into “How might we” questions, you can begin to explore creative solutions that pave the way for transformative changes in your educational environment.

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Flip,” a specialized GPT—here to help you reframe challenges and see the potential for growth. Access Flip and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Chapter 15
Big and Slow Moving Systems

Traditional schools are part of larger bureaucratic systems that may involve multiple levels of administration and decision-making processes, from the individual school to the federal government. This bureaucratic structure can slow the implementation of innovative teaching methods or necessary changes in response to evolving educational research and student needs. Many innovative methods being successfully employed may never go farther than one educator, one class, or, in the best-case scenario, one school. The culture facilitates these silos. For example, new educators, full of enthusiasm, enter teaching thinking they can make a difference. But they quickly learn that, in the current culture, innovation is not valued or rewarded. Worse, it’s sometimes thwarted.

The system’s lack of flexibility and adaptability can hinder the ability to provide dynamic and student-centered learning experiences. This causes us to ask: should classrooms be rigid and bureaucratically controlled? When we consider the concept of culture in the context of schools, classrooms, teaching styles, and education, it becomes crucial to recognize its multifaceted nature. Culture in education encompasses broader societal and institutional contexts and the individual microcosms within classrooms and schools.

Culture refers to the attitudes, behaviors, and values of students and educators in classrooms. These cultural dynamics influence interactions, communication styles, and learning experiences. We must remember that students bring culture with them when they enter the school’s culture. They don’t come to us as blank slates, as we often portray them. They bring their cultural backgrounds, languages, perspectives, and prior knowledge into the classroom, which can enrich or inhibit the learning environment. Teaching styles and methods are influenced by culture too. Educators may adopt strategies that align with cultural norms, values, and expectations because no one wants to stand out from the crowd and risk negative attention or bad educator evaluation.

The culture at Design39 was built on the following guiding principles.

Vygotsky argues that culture plays a significant role in the construction of our cognitive abilities and how we make meaning of the world around us. When the meaning about the world we hold is challenged and we experience conflict between our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, we experience cognitive dissonance.60 One way to address this is to learn in what Vygotsky called your zone of proximal development (ZPD). ZPD is the gap between what you know and can achieve independently and where you would like to get to in collaboration with or with support from others. While this theory has traditionally been applied to younger learners, there are many cases that apply this theory to adult learners as well.61 A unanimous sentiment shared across all LEDs was that their ability to integrate design thinking was a result of social interactions with their peers. The depth of examples shared by all the LEDs demonstrated not only their deep understanding of integration but how they had been able to achieve it and why it was valuable for them and their learners. Over 70% of the LEDs interviewed shared that before Design39 they had felt as if they were isolated in their classroom, having many ideas but unable to implement them all. However, when they came to Design39, collaboration with their peers allowed them to do things they had always dreamed of doing. At Design39, they were designing interdisciplinary learning experiences that allowed them to merge the knowledge, skills, and mindsets.

Design Thinking is the Answer to Every Question

Design thinking gives us the freedom and flexibility to answer these questions with people, not for people. It provides the structures and scaffolds to suggest answers, test hypotheses, take risks, be creative, and collaborate with others to create a culture ideal for learning. It gives us creative confidence as we know our first try is not our last try.

This was at the core of Design39’s mission statement which read:

The organization’s mission is to, “create learning experiences that are designed with the individual learner in mind. As a collaborative community, we nurture creative confidence, practice design thinking, learn through inquiry, connect globally, use technology and real-world tools, and promote the courage and growth mindset necessary to change the world.”

One of the first things people notice when they walk into a school under a design thinking model is how the classroom is constructed and organized. Traditional schools have a large educator desk at the front with rows or blocks of student seating in front of the educator, as if there is some great chasm between them. With a design thinking model, the classroom might not have desks or chairs at all. Traditional classrooms might have walls covered with posters, classwork, and other items. Design thinking models might start with blank and empty walls where the users of the space, the students, collaborate about its design.

Schools are not the only physical space to explore design thinking concepts. Corporations that understand design thinking are implementing the same ideas to provide workspaces for their employees. Places like Apple espouse the principle that the process to design a workspace or a work product should function in this way. In an AI world with rapid advances being made toward personalization, these spaces are changing. As Microsoft shared in the 2024 Work Trend Index:

Over the past few decades, companies have been renegotiating the psychological contract— the why of work— with their employees, influenced by new generations, labor trends, and the pandemic. Now companies must renegotiate the ‘operational contract’ —the how of work—with their employees as AI puts more power into the hands of workers in terms of the way the job gets done.62

The way we experience the world and, in particular, the way children learn about the world is multifaceted. At a corporation, leaders are concerned about how the user experiences the product or service. Schools must be equally concerned about how students experience their education.

It’s not just the words coming out of a educator’s mouth or the text on the board or in a book. The entire experience matters. All the sights, sounds, touches, and the general “feeling” of the space can hinder or enhance the learning experience. Think back to your classroom. I’d bet the majority of you imagine old brown and gray buildings, long hallways with block walls painted mauve, hard desks and chairs, and rows of students facing a educator’s desk and a long blackboard. Design thinking asks us to consider every aspect of the student experience including the physical atmosphere.

At design thinking schools, parents have described their children’s classrooms as peaceful places where [SQ1] [GU2] children can create without limitations. Students are encouraged to change their environment as much as they want and need to, guided by their imaginations. Depending on the activity taking place, tables might be in one area today and another tomorrow.

At first, students are also not familiar with this environment. One LED shared, “They are used to moving from class to class every 45 minutes, being told what to do within each of those minutes, and being in the same seat every day. And this is a really big transition, but they soon realize this is a really good gig, and they begin to adapt.”

Once immersed in the culture, they shift to a growth mindset as they realize that learning is more than achieving a grade. Being able to step away from anxiety over grades, performance, and perfection allows them to enjoy the experience of learning and experimenting with different methods.

The physical spaces play a critical role because students can step into another room and do a recording, create something, or collaborate with a classmate. They enjoy this autonomy immensely and, as a result, learn that they can trust their educators. Students also learn to trust other students who work alongside them on different projects. But it’s not just the spaces that make these environments unique. It’s also the language that is used within them.

When You Change the Language, You Change the Conversation

“What do you mean I can do an assignment again?” This is a common question among learners who are being educated in a design thinking framework for the first time. They have been conditioned to have a fixed mindset: Fail the test and live with the failure for the rest of the school year. In design thinking, students can see their learning gaps, fill them in, and try again.

Example: Maker39

Maker39 is an entrepreneurship program at Design39 where, starting in 3rd grade, students design their own businesses. By framing learning in a real-world scenario, Maker39 essentially changes the language from a traditional model of siloed subjects to language designed to bridge them all together in one experience. For example, the office is renamed the welcome center. “Design studio” is the name for any place where educators collaborate. Educators revised the way they spoke to each other, replacing “work” with “collaborate.” They changed “I have to” with “I get to.” And, of course, educators are referred to as “learning experience designers.”

Traditional subjects are taught through the practical application of starting and managing a business. For example:

Mathematics Through Budgeting: Instead of conventional lessons on fractions and decimals, math skills are taught through budgeting activities. Students apply their mathematical knowledge to set prices for their products, manage costs, and forecast profits, making math both relevant and practical.

Writing Through Business Communication: Writing skills are developed through crafting mission statements and analyzing mentor texts. Students explore unique styles of writing and learn to articulate their business visions effectively. This approach helps them understand the nuances of business communication and the importance of clarity and persuasion.

Entrepreneurship Through “Shark Tank” Style Pitches: Students apply their integrated business knowledge by pitching their business ideas in a “Shark Tank” style format. This process enhances their entrepreneurial skills, requiring them to use strategic thinking, creativity, and persuasive communication to convince potential investors of the value of their ideas.

Marketing and Sales at the Maker39 Fair: The culmination of their project is the Maker39 fair, open to the community, where students market and sell their products. This event teaches them effective marketing techniques and customer interaction, with proceeds going to charity, reinforcing lessons in social entrepreneurship and community engagement.

This high-stakes environment simulates real-world business pitching, requiring students to use a range of skills:

Public Speaking and Persuasion: Students must clearly and convincingly present their ideas, using persuasive language and presentation skills to engage potential investors.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: They must anticipate and respond to questions, demonstrating their ability to think on their feet and solve problems under pressure.

Financial Literacy and Strategic Planning: Presenting a comprehensive business plan requires a deep understanding of financial principles and the ability to strategize for future growth.

The growth mindset they saw with their learners and within themselves motivated them to keep going deeper with design thinking. educators are prepared to deal with many diverse types of students and meet them where they are. The risk taker will learn differently from the cautious one. The macro thinker will explore a topic differently from someone obsessed with details. In a design thinking model, all of these variations can be addressed.

Light Your SPARK #8: Practicing Your AI Mindset

Overview: As you read these examples, you might feel overwhelmed or wonder how you can implement similar approaches in your context. With an AI mindset, you can think, “How can I share these examples with AI tools to adapt and apply them in my space?”

I’ve been inspired by the examples of design thinking in education, like the Maker39 program. Here’s my current situation and what I hope to achieve:

Situation: I currently teach [subject/grade level] and rely on traditional methods like [lectures, standardized testing, etc.]. My students often feel [disconnected, unengaged, etc.].

Problem: I want to move away from these traditional methods to create a more engaging and practical learning experience. However, I’m unsure how to start and how to integrate these ideas effectively.

Aspiration: I aspire to create a learning environment where students can apply their knowledge practically and feel excited about learning. I want them to develop skills like [critical thinking, creativity, financial literacy].

Results: Ideally, this new approach will result in students who are [innovative, engaged, motivated] and ready to tackle real-world challenges.

Kismet: Based on the examples provided, how might I use AI tools to implement similar design thinking principles in my classroom? Could you provide 3-4 strategies to get started and share something that might surprise me?”

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Spark,” a specialized GPT—ready to help ignite creative approaches to integrating AI into your life. Access Spark and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Chapter 16
This Isn’t New

Design thinking is an approach that can provide the strategies and tools needed to help schools redesign their environments and the tasks that students do. It is an approach that can enhance and develop the skills and mindsets students will need to compete in a fast-moving and changing world. From new models being created to enhancements being made to traditional schools, various approaches to teaching and learning are emerging.

First, education is replaced with learning. When schools (and their educators) are more focused on teaching than learning, the focus of education becomes skewed. Students are often left out of the learning conversation. School should be a place where everyone, from the faculty to the staff to the learners themselves, is a learner and participates in learning.

Learning is social, and learning takes place through doing. Design thinking frameworks provide a method and language to bring learning to life. Seymour Papert outlined eight principles that help to accomplish this.63 As a mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, he was recognized as one of the pioneers of educational technology and the development of the constructionist learning theory. His philosophy favored hands-on, experiential --learning where students actively construct their knowledge and understanding through engagement with the material. Papert believed in the power of technology, specifically computer programming, as a tool for learning and creative expression. He championed the idea that students learn best when actively involved in designing, creating, and manipulating physical and digital objects. Papert’s constructionism principles emphasize learning through making, experimentation, and discovery, promoting student agency, creativity, and a deep understanding of concepts.

Let’s review the eight principles in light of design thinking:

Learning by Doing

Papert wanted learners to be deeply involved in learning by being active. Traditional models rely heavily on learning by hearing, lecturing, reading, etc. Design thinking involves the student by promoting active, hands-on engagement in the learning process. Design thinking emphasizes a human-centered problem-solving methodology, where students identify real-world challenges, empathize with the users’ needs, generate creative ideas, prototype solutions, and iteratively refine their designs. This iterative process aligns with the “learning by doing” philosophy, which encourages students to actively participate in constructing their knowledge through practical experiences. By engaging in real-world problem-solving scenarios, students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills and gain a deeper grasp and, ultimately, mastery of the subject matter. Learning by doing allows students to develop and/or apply theoretical concepts meaningfully, encouraging them to experiment, take risks, and learn from their successes and failures. It fosters a sense of ownership, enabling students to become active learners who can transfer their skills and knowledge across various contexts. By combining design thinking and learning by doing, students can develop practical, innovative, and impactful solutions while gaining valuable skills and experiences. Students’ mindsets include discovery, curiosity, optimism, and learning from failure.

Technology for Making

Papert preached the gospel of “constructionism,” which focused on the use of technology for making and hands-on learning. He emphasized the idea that students enjoy designing, creating, and manipulating physical and digital objects with their hands, looking at things in three dimensions rather than on a page of a book. Through this ideas become tangible prototypes for us to test and learn from. This is the essence of design thinking.

According to Papert, technology can empower students to become active learners by allowing them to explore, experiment, and express their ideas creatively. He envisioned students as “makers” who use technology to bring their ideas to life and solve real-world problems. Papert’s theory of technology for making emphasized the importance of student agency, creativity, and self-expression in the learning process. He saw technology as a tool for learning that could transform education by allowing students to be active participants and creators rather than passive recipients of knowledge.

Learning Should Be Fun

At the core of Seymour Papert’s educational philosophy was the belief that learning should be fun. He advocated for an approach to education that engaged students’ curiosity, imagination, and joy in the learning process. According to Papert, when students are actively involved in their learning and find joy in their actions, they are more motivated, enthusiastic, and eager to explore and discover new knowledge. By making learning enjoyable, Papert believed that students could develop a lifelong love for learning and a deep intrinsic motivation to pursue knowledge within and beyond the confines of the classroom.

Design thinking echoes this belief with its human-centered approach. By incorporating creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on experiences, design thinking brings a sense of excitement and discovery to the educational process. Students are encouraged to think, explore different perspectives, and share innovative ideas. Students actively participate in the learning journey through design challenges, prototyping, and iteration, fostering a sense of wonder and pleasure in learning. Design thinking encourages collaboration, as students work in teams, brainstorm ideas, and share diverse viewpoints. This dynamic approach encourages critical thinking, self-confidence, and allows for experimentation and innovation. By infusing fun and playfulness into the learning process, design thinking strategies inspire students to become active learners, fostering a lifelong love for learning. This sparks the mindset of optimism.

Take Charge of Your Learning

Taking responsibility for your learning was a favorite tenet of Papert’s theory. He believed that when students have control over their learning experiences, they become active participants and owners of their education rather than passive recipients. Students feel a sense of autonomy as they explore their interests, set their goals, and drive their learning journeys. By taking charge of their learning, students develop important skills such as self-regulation, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Papert’s theory promoted the idea that students can construct their knowledge and understanding of the world, and they should be given the freedom and support to pursue their passions and shape their educational paths.

In design thinking, we promote asking big and small questions and following the educational journey wherever it leads. This promotes the mindset of empathy and a comfort level with ambiguity. Students grow in their ability to tolerate and navigate situations that are uncertain, complex, or lacking clear answers or outcomes. It is the capacity to embrace and engage with ambiguity rather than being obsessed with answers and seeking immediate resolution. Comfort with ambiguity involves being open to multiple perspectives, flexibility in thinking, and the freedom to explore possibilities and uncertainties. With these skills, learners are more likely to approach unfamiliar or complex situations with curiosity, problem-solving orientation, and willingness to explore different paths. Comfort with ambiguity is an important skill in today’s rapidly changing world, as it enables individuals to navigate uncertainty, embrace innovation, and make well-informed decisions even in the absence of complete information, allowing students to be able to shift and be agile when things are changing in their lives and careers.

Managing Your Time

Papert’s theory of managing time revolves around the deliberate and purposeful allocation of one’s time and attention. He felt effective time management was not about trying to fit more tasks into a limited timeframe but rather about making conscious choices and prioritizing activities based on personal goals and values. He emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and reflection in understanding one’s strengths, weaknesses, and the tasks that truly align with one’s objectives.

This is a design thinking staple. Learning to manage time is one skill that makes learners marketable in the current job climate. In education, design thinking provides students with a powerful framework for managing their time effectively. By incorporating design thinking principles, students are encouraged to approach time management as a creative problem-solving process. They learn to empathize with their needs and constraints, understand their unique learning styles, and identify areas where time management is most challenging. Students can experiment with different strategies through the iterative design thinking process, reflect on their effectiveness, and make necessary adjustments. They are encouraged to break their tasks into smaller, manageable chunks, prioritize activities based on importance and urgency, and create realistic timelines. Design thinking also fosters collaboration and communication skills, allowing students to seek support and guidance from peers and educators. Students develop a proactive and flexible mindset towards time management, enabling them to take ownership of their schedules, optimize productivity, and achieve their academic goals. All the while, they foster the mindset of comfort with ambiguity.

Learning from Failure

Papert’s theory of learning from failure emphasizes the value of embracing and extracting knowledge from mistakes and setbacks. According to Papert, failure is not something to be feared or avoided but rather a natural part of the learning process. He believed that individuals gain valuable insights through failure, develop problem-solving skills, and cultivate resilience. Papert emphasized creating an environment where learners feel safe to take risks and explore innovative ideas without fearing judgment or punishment. As a result, they are motivated and open to taking on challenges. They also develop the muscle of persistence as they try again to address the problem at hand. He advocated for educators to provide constructive feedback and guide learners in reflecting on their failures, helping them identify the underlying causes and discover alternative approaches.

Design thinking fosters a student’s ability to learn from failure by providing a structured and empathetic approach to problem-solving. In design thinking, failure is viewed as a valuable learning opportunity rather than a setback. Through the iterative nature of the design, they prototype, test, and gather feedback on their ideas. Design thinking also encourages reflection and empathy. Through this empathetic lens, students gain insights into how their ideas or solutions can be refined and improved.

Learning Is a Struggle

Seymour Papert’s theory includes the idea that learning is inherently a struggle, and this struggle is positive. He felt it was essential for meaningful and transformative education. In design thinking, we have seen that true learning occurs when individuals engage in the process, even when it’s challenging. They develop a deeper understanding as they grapple with challenging concepts, encounter obstacles, and persist through difficulties. Learners develop a sense of agency and ownership over their education by being active in the struggle. They become active participants in their learning journey, exploring, questioning, and seeking solutions.

A design thinking principle encourages creating an empathetic and supportive learning environment where students are not afraid to make mistakes and where they are learning “how” to learn instead of “what” to learn. This addresses one of educators’ greatest fears with AI – that we will lose that productive struggle. But when we become more ambitious about the experiences we design, the skills we want students to learn, the problems we want them to explore, and the opportunities we want them to see possible for themselves, we realize in our current model we are barely scratching the surface. True, AI could reduce productive struggle in our traditional system, but in a redesigned one where we are more ambitious, nothing could be further from the truth in a world where you have no idea what the jobs of tomorrow will be.

Papert believed that students must be prepared for the digital world. He felt this one point necessitated a fundamental shift in the status quo in education. He argued that instead of simply teaching students how to use technology, they should become active creators and problem solvers through technology. Papert highlighted the importance of computational thinking and programming skills as essential tools for navigating the digital landscape and advocated for integrating things like coding and robotics into the curriculum, enabling students to develop logical reasoning, algorithmic thinking, and creativity. Papert believed that by engaging in hands-on experiences with technology, they would develop essential 21st-century skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, and innovation.

Design thinking models connect with the idea that students will likely be engaged in professions that require high technology proficiency. All design thinking mindsets come into play in integrating technology into education. Beyond simply being prepared to take their place in the digital world, students should be involved in innovating and shaping future technology.

When we reflect on the irreplaceable qualities we discussed earlier, we must consider the following questions:

How does the culture of Design39 support educators in helping students identify their strengths?

What aspects of Design39’s approach enable educators to transform challenges into growth opportunities?

How does Design39 stay attuned to emerging trends in education, and how do educators incorporate these into their practice?

What strategies does Design39 use to create a shared language of learning among educators and students?

In what ways does Design39’s culture encourage educators to be proactive learners and leaders?

The conditions that enable irreplaceable educators to thrive are a result of intentional culture design. The time is now to challenge the very foundations of schooling, questioning the ideas that seem so fixed and immutable. We rarely stop to ask if there might be a better way. By questioning these embedded structures, Design39 has created a learning environment that proves change is not only possible but within our reach.

Chapter 17
From Classroom to Creator: Beyond the Four Walls

While we are used to seeing these practices inside the four walls of a classroom, or a brick and mortar school, we are increasingly seeing educators break down these walls and take learning into spaces where they are no longer bound by time and place. Let me introduce you to educators who are pushing the boundaries with this type of learning.

Story: The Hybrid Classroom–Andrew Wright

During the pandemic, teachers were forced to improvise as the traditional face to face classroom simply wasn’t an option, we were thrust into Zoom rooms and online ‘teaching’ became a thing. It didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t working, not for them or for us. After noticing the students had made animated gifs of themselves as backgrounds and were off doing other things, it was clear we needed another option. It was then that I stumbled upon WebXR, and what turned out to be the solution to student engagement. WebXr applications such as Frame and Spatial immersed them in a virtual learning environment. It allowed them to be present in the moment.

First we had to acknowledge the inertia typical of educational systems, I recognized that complete overhauls were impractical; you cannot ‘throw the baby out with the bath water.’ It became obvious that evolution rather than revolution was the key. Thus, the ‘hybrid classroom’ model was born—a strategy designed not to replace but to enhance. This model maintained the teacher’s role as a guide rather than a dictator of information, easing the common fear among educators that new methods merely translate to additional burdens. Our approach at Edu Metaverse was crafted meticulously to lighten the teacher’s load while significantly enhancing student engagement.

After all, what we build one day is in our classrooms the next. I soon realized that what we had begun to develop not only enhanced the learning but energized the staff and the students. A new way of learning that tapped into gamification without any game. One of my favorite examples is taking the Edumetaverse where I felt it was most needed. I ran training with staff and students in remote communities, sharing the world around the time of Paris 2024.

To teach them math, literacy, and geography we took them into a specially built virtual Olympic stadium. Here they were free to roam around, picking up information and ideas we’d planted, working collaboratively through project based learning activities and diving in and out of the world when needed. Together they designed a shoe for an indigenous athlete. Their designs and thoughts are still in the world today, shared with a global audience. Their pride and joy at knowing others would appreciate their work was probably one of the most powerfully emotive moments I’ve experienced over 25 years in the classroom. Witnessing these students, previously sidelined by geographical and socio-economic barriers, now thriving and engaged in their education was profoundly rewarding. I couldn’t put a price on that.

As we built more worlds and added more content, the results were nothing short of transformative. Classroom dynamics improved drastically, evidenced by decreased disruptions, thorough engagement, and enhanced knowledge retention. Students were not just attending classes; they wanted to be there, wanted to know what was next. Hungry to learn, something I’d not seen in the traditional classroom for a long time.

To those aspiring to innovate, I say: have the courage of your convictions. Detractors will always exist, ready to doubt and criticize, mostly because they are scared, or don’t want the change. Remember that true change is a testament to perseverance and resilience, not to the approval of naysayers. You will ruffle feathers, but disruption is not always a bad thing. Education turns like a super tanker, but the more people pushing, the quicker the turn. If I can do it, truly, anyone can.

What If Your Classroom Was the World

Andrew isn’t the only visionary to rethink the conventional boundaries of education. Over a decade ago, Russell Cailey embarked on a similar journey, founding Ta mission encapsulated in their pioneering Changemaker Curriculum.

At its inception, THINK Global was little more than an ambitious concept without a proven track record, supported by a handful of friends and advocates. The founders, however, were resolute—driven individuals who risked their reputations on an untested idea. United by their shared vision, they felt a collective invincibility, ready to tackle challenges head-on.

Their dedication transformed their initial ideas into a tangible, award-winning educational model. In 2023, THINK Global was recognized with The PIE Awards for its exceptional approach to learning, which includes:

A structured yet flexible curriculum that emphasizes play, projects, and inquiry.

Collaborative wayfinding to forge a path of significant impact while maintaining an element of fun.

Continuous development of teaching methods and curricular improvements.

A dynamic team that not only leads the system but also fosters knowledge creation and forms strategic partnerships to further their educational mission.

The culture at THINK Global encourages confronting “wicked problems” without fear, adapting flexibly to maintain positive progress. The team’s strategic foresight helps navigate unexpected challenges, while their open embrace of failure spurs innovation. This philosophy of embracing setbacks has led to new explorations, perspectives, and practices that enrich the educational experience.

Students at THINK Global progress from Apprentices to Specialists, and ultimately to Masters, developing and disseminating innovative ideas. The program’s foundation in design thinking encourages lifelong self-directed learning and breaks from traditional schooling norms with its unique schedule: eight weeks of immersive learning in various countries followed by five weeks at home, allowing students to assimilate and share their experiences with family.

THINK Global School not only challenges the status quo of educational environments but also sets a new bar for how and where learning occurs, making it an exemplar of progressive education on the global stage.

The technology plays a pivotal role in the orchestration of this curriculum. Before each eight-week learning session, students participate in an online orientation to prepare them for the upcoming module. This is followed by weeks filled with exploration, experiments, lectures, field trips, and various activities, all balanced with ample time for rest, relaxation, and socialization.

The fusion of diverse disciplines in education enhances students’ grasp of complex issues, but it also furnishes them with a versatile repertoire of skills they can use to confront challenges from myriad angles. This integration encourages learners to adopt a multifaceted perspective, fostering creativity and innovation in problem-solving. Plus, it underscores the importance of educators transcending traditional subject boundaries and embracing interdisciplinary approaches to provide a more connected and relevant learning experience.

Breaking the Silos

It’s an exciting era where innovative models and individuals are reshaping the landscape of teaching, designing methodologies that prioritize relevance and engagement. By showcasing these examples and fostering a culture of exploration and adaptation, educators can return teaching to being a profession that inspires and empowers, creating profound learning experiences that resonate with the complexities of the real world. Perhaps the day is fast approaching where the question will never again be heard from the lips of uninterested students, “Why do I need to know this?”

The changing nature of work calls for an interdisciplinary approach to learning. As boundaries between traditional job roles blur, students will benefit from an education that integrates multiple disciplines, encouraging them to see connections between different fields of knowledge. This integration fosters a more holistic understanding of problems and equips students with a diverse skill set, enabling them to approach challenges with a multifaceted perspective. Educators must, therefore, move beyond siloed subjects to offer a more connected and relevant educational experience that mirrors the complexity of the real world.

Prior to generative AI tools, we would read stories like this, and the list of barriers would enter our mind, the greatest being time, as educators often work in isolation. With these tools now acting as “members of our team” and ready to assist, we can use them to design learning experiences that previously would have felt unimaginable.

Both Andrew and Russell are examples of what happens when educators see themselves as creators. Creators who can take their knowledge, skills, and experiences and reimagine where and how they can be used. While the recession made it challenging for me to stay in my role as a high school history teacher, my skills as a coach, my ability to build rapport and relationships, and ability to help people see that spark within them and help them get from point A to B is what has allowed me to continue in my role as an educator. It just doesn’t look exactly the way I thought it had to. Through my workshops and online courses, both online and in person, I’m still able to have the best job ever–being an educator. This never would have happened had I not continued learning.

The opportunities for where you work and how you can work are truly limitless. In previous chapters, we explored the qualities that make you truly irreplaceable and why you are uniquely positioned to S.H.A.P.E. the future. We discovered that irreplaceable educators help students identify their strengths, transform challenges into growth opportunities, recognize emerging trends, create a shared language of learning, and function as proactive learners and leaders. In Act 4, we will cover the practical steps we need to take to create cultures of innovation.

Act 4
Leading Your Human
and AI Team

Inner SPARK Affirmation:
Digging Deeper, Together

Say this out loud with me:

In the quiet corners of our work, where effort often goes unnoticed, we find true value. I am part of a community that values every contribution, large or small. Together with AI, our smart companion, we uncover insights and solutions that were once out of reach. These tools do not replace us; they enhance our capabilities, allowing us to dig deeper and achieve more. We support each other, recognizing that collaboration multiplies our impact. By pooling our resources and wisdom, we turn individual struggles into shared victories. This partnership, both human and technological, helps us navigate challenges and discover opportunities, making every hidden effort shine. Together, we are stronger, smarter, and more connected.

Chapter 18
From Trust to Transformation

The time has come to put design thinking into practice in your school. Before we cover ways to do that, it wouldn’t hurt to revisit the central tenet of design thinking and the fact that it is centered around learners. Not educators. Not administrators. Not curricula. Not testing. Learners! This will be a challenge if you are an experienced educator in a traditional model. Your muscle memory will take you back to the old way of thinking. You must work to resist that daily until it becomes second nature. But, if you are a new educator, don’t celebrate too quickly. While you may not have taught for years and years under the old way, you were likely educated under it. It is part of your educational DNA as a learner. You may assume that learning a better model will be a breeze, but it will not. This is an intentional departure from the norm. Everyone involved in schooling must approach it from that mindset intentionally.

But it’s worth it. When your students go to college and, more importantly, when they prepare to start a business, run for political office, or enter a career, they will be equipped for just about anything happening in the world at that time. More importantly, they will feel empowered in the world rather than at the mercy of it. We are, in essence, training students to adapt to a world that doesn’t yet exist.

The traditional model can’t do that.

It’s crucial to recognize the importance of agency in this transformation. You may feel powerless to implement these changes on a school-wide scale, but with AI on your team, I hope you feel confident trying them in your own classroom. Remember, leadership isn’t defined by a title; it’s defined by ideas and impact. By leading by example, you can inspire others to follow suit. When all is said and done, you’re not just becoming a better educator—you’re becoming an irreplaceable one, with countless opportunities awaiting you at every turn.

This is a major shift. It is an abandonment of the old system rather than an overhaul. Gone are the days of memorizing facts, rote learning, repetition for the sake of repetition, and sitting in rows. Not every school will tear down its old paradigms and start fresh. There are often levels of bureaucracy in a traditional school model and in private and parochial schools. Some will have to start with a design thinking “project” or a series of lessons. However, once the evidence of its effectiveness is clear, it will become harder to resist incorporating the model in everything you do.

I know you have heard this message about change before. However, AI presents a bold new opportunity to do something incredibly different because of its capabilities and wide adoption outside of the classroom. We can set more ambitious educational goals that we couldn’t before when we had to do all the work alone. The AI tools we have now are the worst they will ever be, and at that they feel incredible; imagine what they will be a year from now, five years from now, a decade from now and beyond. It will only keep improving. As long as we remember to prompt the human before the machine, we will continue to be the leaders of our AI teams.

We stand in a pivotal moment in history. Technology represents the ultimate human advantage. Today’s AI tools can do a lot, but the insights and observations educators make are most critical. Only the human educator can empathize with a student. Only an educator can feel what a student is feeling and understand the implications of those feelings. Only an educator can see in students what they cannot see in themselves...just as Bruce did for me all those years ago. That is something that truly makes an educator so special and so very irreplaceable.

People may see or hear how a design thinking school operates and miss the forest for the trees. For example, they may see the unique ways in which the spaces are designed and assume that this alone accounts for the added energy and interest. But the appearance and structure of the physical space is just the visible tip of the iceberg. What really created those spaces was the collaboration of educators, students, and sometimes parents that created a sense of safety and trust for the students in which to learn. In fact, when interviewing stakeholders in design thinking schools, “trust” was the word used most often and it was spoken by every single person!

A culture of trust is the foundational element of a design thinking model. Without it, the other tenets of the program will fail. To that extent, it must start with educators who trust the administration and each other.

Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School professor and author of Team Psychological Safety, promotes teams (classrooms, groups, families, etc.) where people feel safe enough to take a chance, say what they really feel, ask questions when they are unsure and celebrate their mistakes with no fear of retribution from doing so.

Speaking openly and honestly becomes part of the culture and, therefore, the usual thing to do when people feel psychologically safe. The payoff is that the team gets access to more and potentially better ideas which spark even more ideas; better decisions are made; and people feel excited and motivated to contribute to the team overall. Creativity soars and answers to problems are more readily discovered. Alternatively, the absence of psychological safety results in disengagement, withdrawal, and stress.

In another study at Google called Project Aristotle they found that, oftentimes, the assumption is that you need your highest performers to come together to have successful team performance with strong outcomes; however they found that it was not the level of performance that differentiated successful teams from non-successful teams, rather it was the behavioral norms the team developed.64

The establishment of norms to create a culture of vulnerability and psychological safety was a theme mentioned by many of the stakeholders. educators attributed their self-efficacy to using the design thinking framework in their planning when designing learning experiences. As a result, they were experiencing design thinking firsthand alongside their learners, creating a truly dynamic and holistic learner-centered environment.

Another norm to help the group overcome the fear of failure and to align everyone’s expectations when starting a new project was by identifying all the things that could go wrong. Talking about potential failure in advance dispelled the fear and made failure seem like a natural part of the process.

It was evident from the interviews and observations that the daily collaboration practice and culture at Design39 had created a culture of psychological safety amongst the students and educators that greatly enhanced their self-efficacy when integrating design thinking.

Strategies for Building a Culture of Psychological Safety and Collaboration:

Daily Collaboration Practice:

At Design39, the routine practice of collaboration among students and educators has fostered a culture of psychological safety, significantly boosting their self-efficacy in integrating design thinking. This daily interaction has enabled both students and educators to experience design thinking in action, contributing to a dynamic, learner-centered environment.

Establishing Norms of Vulnerability:

Stakeholders have emphasized the importance of creating norms that support a culture of vulnerability and psychological safety. This approach has been key to helping educators and students openly engage with the design thinking framework, enhancing their ability to plan and execute meaningful learning experiences together.

Addressing the Fear of Failure:

Another crucial norm involves openly discussing potential failures at the outset of projects. This strategy helps to normalize failure as part of the learning process, aligning expectations and reducing anxiety associated with new and challenging tasks.

Overcoming Isolation:

Educators were previously accustomed to traditional methods often felt isolated, burdened with the responsibility of navigating educational challenges alone. By contrast, the collaborative model at Design39 has transformed this experience, making educators feel part of a supportive community where ‘multiple brains’ contribute to problem-solving and curriculum development.

Integrative Teaching and Learning:

Moving away from traditional classroom setups, where subjects are taught in isolation, Design39 employs a holistic approach. Here, learning experiences are designed to integrate knowledge, skills, and mindsets across various disciplines. This method is enriched through ‘deep dives’ and explorations that allow students to pursue passions and explore new interests, making learning more engaging and enduring.

Collaborative Curriculum Development:

The shift to a design thinking model has enabled educators to work collaboratively not just among themselves but with their students, fostering an educational environment where learning is a shared journey. This shift has been crucial in developing skills like creativity, critical thinking, and empathy, which are essential for students to thrive in modern educational contexts.

Chapter 19
The Treasure Below
the Surface

All of these strategies strengthen the educators’ trust as they discover that there is no “system” or “administration” working against them, waiting for them to fail, and itching to “write them up.” They trust that they are in a supportive environment where everyone wants to see everyone else succeed. Implementing these strategies can develop trust among educators, students, and parents, leading to stronger partnerships and learners. With trust and safety at the core, a foundation for collaboration can be built. This is how an effective design-thinking culture comes into being.

While many may initially hesitate or express skepticism about new educational methods, the tangible results of design thinking are convincing an increasing number of parents and educators of its value. This shift in perspective is largely driven by the numerous schools that have successfully implemented design thinking, demonstrating its effectiveness. However, the foundation of this success always begins with establishing the right culture.

Changing the language at Design39 didn’t just change instruction. It changed the way they thought about their ability to change the status quo. Much like an iceberg, the bulk of the work is being done below the surface. The resulting tip of the iceberg is just a representation of what is happening before students arrive each day.

The image below offers a two-part view of a culture that embraces these principles: the tangible signs that we can observe when we enter the space and the behind-the-scenes efforts that make it possible. We can see the creativity and innovation taking place in the classrooms. We delight in watching kids gain clarity as they learn. Staff, students, and educators are engaged in problem-solving in all facets of learning and administration. The activities that take place over the course of the school year are in alignment with our shared values, goals, and priorities. Collaboration occurs frequently and easily as people demonstrate their trust in each other.

Beneath the surface, however, is where the real magic happens. The mindset that undergirds all the above activities is what makes learning in this environment possible.

People genuinely think and believe that:

students design their learning.

their strengths are known, appreciated, celebrated, and necessary.

the vision is clear and shared by all.

they can trust others and are trusted by them.

they are all stakeholders in the process and are empowered by the culture.

Most importantly, they are safe.

Safe to share their ideas.

Safe to fail.

Safe to experiment.

Safe to learn.

Bridging the Gap from the Classroom to Careers

Often, school is like another world students visit from 8:00 to 3:00 to learn. However, much of the outside world they don’t see and experience in school could have a strong impact on their ability to manage the real world beyond the school’s walls. Innovations in industry, environmental developments, and history being made from day to day are all important lessons about the world students should learn. If we want our educators to bring the best to our students, they have to see the best of what is happening. We shared earlier that this is a key empathy exercise as part of the design thinking process. Inspiration can come from many sources, like other industries who are improving the way they work.

Another major area where trust is commonly eroded relates to policies and procedures. Traditional school educators often complain about the lack of professional development, unmanageable school schedules, and policies that handcuff their best efforts, creating a divide not only between educators and administration but also between educators and students. Design thinking empowers educators from the curriculum phase to the implementation phase, fundamentally changing how they interact with educational frameworks.

To address these challenges, schools must implement effective professional development strategies, there are some starting points inspired by Design39 and ultimately you will want to use the process to design what works best for your community:

Dedicated Time for Collaboration: Provide one hour at the start of every morning for educators to come together by grade level, creating plans that energize both students and educators.

Innovation as a Cultural Value: Recognize and integrate innovation into the school culture as an ongoing practice, rather than a sporadic or isolated event.

Comprehensive Professional Development: Offer professional development that includes content-focused learning, active collaboration, coaching and modeling, feedback and reflection, and sustainability practices.

Creation of ‘Design Studios’: Set up spaces where educators can routinely meet to plan and design lessons, fostering continuous interaction and idea exchange.

Empowering Design Teams: Move away from traditional, passive workshops and towards active design teams where educators learn to apply design thinking to create meaningful learning experiences.

By engaging in these structured activities, educators are not just taught but are immersed in the principles of design thinking. This shifts the educational experience from traditional, isolated learning to a dynamic, collaborative process that prepares students for a complex world.

Empowering Educators to Design Their Own Learning

At Design39, professional development extends beyond traditional workshops and into daily collaborative practices that empower educators to take charge of their learning. This approach is founded on the principles of autonomy, trust, and purpose, creating what one LED describes as a “culture of radical connectivity.”

This environment encourages LEDs to continually develop their craft, not in isolation but as a vibrant community of professionals sharing insights and resources. “Learning and developing our craft as LEDs isn’t something that happens once a month on a Tuesday at the district office. It’s happening all day, every day with the people we work with, the places we visit, and the resources we share with one another,” shares LED 5. This dynamic setting is crucial for fostering an internal drive among educators to pursue mastery and innovation constantly.

This culture shifts traditional power dynamics, placing educators at the center of their professional development. Another LED reflects on this change, “Before, it was the leader telling us what to do. Here, the model is really flipped. Our principal is here to get the roadblocks out of the way so we can do what we need to do.”

Such empowerment is evident in the advice they offer to newcomers, “There is so much trust. Don’t be afraid to have a big idea because you have people who will help you take that idea, make it better, and make it happen.”

This philosophy underscores the importance of a supportive environment where educators are not just implementers of prescribed curricula but active designers of their educational paradigms. By placing educators in control of their professional journey and fostering an environment that values continuous innovation and collaboration, Design39 not only enhances individual educator efficacy but also sets a new standard for educational excellence and adaptability.

Inspiration often comes to us when we go beyond our comfort zones, and areas of expertise. To experiment with this type of learning Design39 created “Project Beep Beep.” Initiated by a simple van rental by the school principal, this project involved a group of educators visiting various educational and industry organizations around the San Diego area. This hands-on exploration became so beneficial that it was permanently integrated into their professional development regimen. One LED explained the funding mechanism, highlighting the shift in perspective towards investing in internal growth: “We would go to so many expensive conferences, but we stopped and said, ‘We’re the experts, let’s learn from each other and invite others in.’ And then we use those funds we saved to build our own internal practice. It funds our travel program.”

This initiative allowed them to save money to spend on experiences to observe and learn from innovative practices outside their immediate educational environment. For instance, during visits to companies like Apple, Google, and HP, one LED shared, “Their employees are rewarded for saying ‘no’ and understanding when to recognize an idea is not working and to move on,” illustrating the value of critical assessment and flexibility. This direct exposure to real-world applications profoundly influenced their approach to education, fostering a culture where practical insights shape pedagogical strategies.

When The Leader Clears the Way

At Design39, the open communication style and strong support system between leadership and learning experience designers (LEDs) nurtures a culture of innovation. One founding LED member described the impact of this supportive environment: “We have an incredibly open communication system with our leadership, and they take feedback really well. We don’t spend lots of time on what and how we say things; we can just say we need to stop this so we can be the best people we can be.”

This ethos extended across the campus, fostering trust and openness that educators have lacked due to the insular nature of traditional schooling. The collaborative spirit was palpable, with LEDs involved in decision-making processes from the start, fostering a sense of ownership and a vested interest in continuous improvement. When surveyed this sentiment showed high levels of support among educators for trying new learning methods, highlighting the shift from isolation to integration. When asked to what degree they agree with the following statement “I feel supported to try new learning methods,” a clear majority agreed.

Another founding member of the school and a LED shared the power of joint decision making, “In the beginning, and now, we were involved in all the decisions. When you are involved, you have ownership, and you are interested in revising and making it better.”

Chapter 20
Educators as Learning Futurists

Education transcends the routine delivery of knowledge; it is a personal journey of growth and transformation. Not just for our students but for ourselves as well. As educators, we are at the forefront of navigating and shaping an era defined by rapid technological advances and significant societal shifts. The challenges and the opportunities lie in embracing a visionary approach that goes beyond responding to immediate educational demands. It starts with us—a commitment to innovate and lead from within, anticipating and preparing for future challenges and opportunities.

At the heart of this transformation is what allows educators to become learning futurists—a visionary who integrates the best of today’s innovations with timeless educational principles to foster a learning environment that is dynamic, inclusive, and forward-thinking.

My research at Design39 has revealed that educators here are exemplary role models of what it means to be learning futurists. They embrace design thinking not just as a method but as a mindset, applying it dynamically to integrate real-world scenarios into the classroom. This approach transforms them from traditional educators to architects of education who prepare students for a world that is continuously evolving. Their success in implementing these methods shows how design thinking can serve as a bridge between current educational practices and the demands of the future, making them futurists in their field

As Stacey Lamb reminds us, “Educators are inherent design thinkers.”

To guide educators in this transformative journey, I’ve developed the REI Framework—Recognize, Empower, and Innovate. This structured approach equips educators to become visionary leaders, ready to navigate the challenges of a rapidly evolving world. Let’s explore each phase and see how it can reshape our educational practices.

These phases represent a progressive journey for educators. Let’s review what each phase seeks to accomplish:

Recognize: See the inherent capabilities within yourself to think and act beyond the conventional curriculum.

Discover: Identify your unique superpower and utilize them to creatively address and overcome the challenges within the educational landscape.

Manifest: Observe and reflect on the outcomes of your innovative efforts, using these successes as motivation to drive continuous improvement and transformation.

This framework is not just about adopting new tools or methods; it’s about cultivating a mindset that values continuous learning, adaptive thinking, and proactive problem-solving. Let’s explore each of these phases in detail, examining how they redefine what it means to teach and learn in a technology-driven, human-centered world.

Recognizing the Design Thinker Within

After reading the heading above, you might be saying, “well of course.” But sometimes, the devil is in the details, and this is one detail we cannot skip. Educators must grow to accept that they are no longer teaching subjects. Instead, they are teaching the system of design thinking as design thinkers themselves. Though this may be a challenging transformation in our thoughts about education, it will ultimately become a habit to see learning, discipline, low achievement, logistics, lesson planning, mistakes, or whatever happens as a design thinking opportunity. We can design solutions to encourage students to research, explore, and expand their natural curiosity. Educators are inherent design thinkers, whether they know it or not. It is their natural state in most cases. This skill is “conditioned” out of them by the rigidity of traditional school.

Borko and Putnam emphasize that an educator’s thinking is intimately connected to their knowledge system.65 During a study, LEDs were asked, “What does design thinking mean to you?” They identified significant overlaps between their practices and the principles of design thinking, appreciating how it provides a structured yet flexible framework that mirrors the intuitive processes they naturally engage in. Over 50% felt that design thinking gave them a shared language and a structure that validated and enhanced their educational practices.

One of the ways mastery of knowledge is demonstrated is by teaching others.66 To assess their mastery of design thinking in education, learning experience designers were asked to describe their confidence in teaching someone else how to integrate design thinking into their curriculum. A clear majority agreed.

A great process that happens when schools adopt this method is the energy, collaboration, and (ultimately) the culture that springs from it. Educators, school leaders, parents, and their children have a shared vision. This reinforces the norms and values that drive the motivation to continue integrating design thinking. The knowledge and empowerment that sprouts and grows when educators see themselves as design thinkers give them greater autonomy, mastery, and purpose. These three elements give educators the “drive” to motivate themselves in the workplace and make collaboration an essential part of their learning and reflection process.

Furthermore, collaborating promotes the refinement of communication skills and develops deeper empathy for each other as educators. People, passion, and purpose enhance motivation among educators as they integrate design thinking to enhance the knowledge, skills, and mindsets of not only their learners but themselves as well. Making the active choice to engage in tasks, persisting in the face of adversity, and dedicating mental effort to learning is essential to sustained motivation when implementing a new practice. This is evidenced by the confidence expressed by 78% of LEDs in their ability to teach others how to integrate design thinking into their curriculum, underscoring a significant shift towards a more dynamic and responsive educational model.

This motivation is achieved when educators are no longer working on an island alone as educators have had to do in the past. educators must be freed to focus on what we do best, our strengths, or as they say at Design39, our superpowers. We’re all good at something, but we can’t be great at everything.

Empowering Yourself by Discovering
Your Superpowers

The learning experience designers at Design39 shared that when we get together to collaborate, we begin by asking, “What are you energized by?” They shared that the reason for this is that we’re all great at something, but none of us can be great at everything. That is why working together works. We can thrive in the areas where we are gifted and defer to others where we have lesser skills. The pressure to be everything to everyone as an educator or leader is gone.

Increased efficacy of the work of being a educator will flow from your understanding of your unique superpower in the design thinking approach. Yes, every educator has a superpower. Still, the traditional model values sameness, expecting each educator to be like the next. We live in a world of specialists and consultants focusing on being the best in a particular area. Traditional schools are run much the same way. The history educator knows history but may know little about calculus. However, collaboration is another aspect that lends itself to innovation, and with design thinking, the history educator might collaborate with the math educator on a lesson about architecture that invites students to use their engineering prowess through calculus. This kind of collaboration brings educators and their classes together, and they can learn from each other.

Design thinking invites educators to be as unique as their classes are. The way learning unfolds in each class will differ from every other class in the school, community, city, state… perhaps the world. This is true because every educator and student is different and will combine their unique perspectives to spark learning and discovery.

Understanding our intrinsic motivations and what truly drives one’s work can be immensely powerful. This is where the concept of a “Sparketype” comes into play, developed by Jonathan Fields.67 A Sparketype is essentially your unique imprint for work that makes you come alive—your “work DNA.” It’s a tool that helps individuals discover the type of work that ignites their passion and maximizes their contribution and satisfaction.

When you align what you do with who you are, you get energy instead of it taking energy. -Jonathan Fields

Manifest Results: Using Outcomes as Motivation for Continuous Educational Innovation

Design thinking stands as the optimal approach in contemporary education, benefitting every stakeholder involved—from educators and administrators to learners and their communities. Research validates this perspective, highlighting significant improvements in collaboration, communication, problem-finding, and creativity. These benefits underscore the transformative power of design thinking beyond traditional educational methods. Design thinking can be seen as being freed from the tethers of a stale curriculum that doesn’t live and breathe. It removes the pressure of teaching subjects and replaces it with the joy of teaching learners, where students work with educators to create their own learning.

Under the old system, initiatives were not often sustained because they fizzled out for one of several reasons. One huge reason is dwindling motivation. Motivation is the fire to continue down a path despite failure and obstacles. Design thinking gives everyone involved in education a stake in seeing it succeed because it was designed by them – not developed somewhere else and handed down to local schools like a holy grail.

Motivation—defined as a process where goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained —is crucial in maintaining the momentum of design thinking practices.68 At Design39, for example, the integration of design thinking has enabled both educators and students to embrace vulnerability, explore new ideas, and persist through challenges. As the survey reveals, seeing these significant results in the skills and mindsets of their students fuels educators’ motivation to continue with design thinking.

This visible success not only sustains their motivation but also reinforces a culture of innovation. In this environment, educators and students are encouraged to experiment, fail, and refine their approaches, fostering a resilient learning community prepared to tackle the complexities of the modern world.

Persistent efforts are reinforced as educators see the tangible outcomes of their design thinking practices. The active choice to engage with the design thinking model continuously evolves into a collaborative and innovative educational culture. This environment not only supports the educational community but also prepares students for the complexities of the world they will enter upon graduation.

Moreover, design thinking empowers educators to create transformative learning experiences. It provides a framework within which educators can pose stimulating questions and open spaces for students to explore inquiries that push the boundaries of traditional learning. This approach not only facilitates the learning process but also enables educators to adapt their teaching strategies based on real-time feedback and results, enhancing the overall educational outcome.

Design thinking is more than a teaching method; it is a comprehensive approach that redefines the educational landscape, ensuring that all participants are equipped to meet and shape the future creatively and effectively. This culture of manifested innovation ensures everyone knows it is acceptable—and necessary—to experiment, fail, and refine ideas, thereby fostering a resilient and adaptive learning environment.

Light Your SPARK #9: What’s Your Superpower?

Knowing your superpower helps you and others understand what activities naturally energize and fulfill you. As you read from the learning experience designers at Design39 this shift in how we approach collaboration can transform your personal and professional life. The Sparketype assessment helps you identify your superpower, revealing the types of work that energize you.

Take the Sparketype Assessment: Start by visiting Sparketype and take the Sparketype assessment to discover your primary and shadow Sparketypes. This will help you understand what types of activities naturally energize and fulfill you.

Identify an Energizing Experience: Think of a specific time when you felt deeply energized and engaged in an activity. Write about this experience in detail, focusing on:

What were you doing?

Why did this activity energize you?

How did it align with your primary and shadow Sparketypes?

Plan for the Future: Think about how you can incorporate more Sparketype-aligned activities into your personal and professional life.

What changes can you make to your daily routine to include more of these activities?

Are there new projects or hobbies you can explore that align with your Sparketype?

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Zest,” a specialized GPT—here to help you recognize what energizes you and brings out your best self. Access Zest and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

Chapter 21
From Tools to Teammates

For many of you, the idea of working as part of a team might feel unfamiliar, perhaps even a bit outlandish. Traditionally, your profession has felt like working on your own island—each classroom a separate enclave, collaboration opportunities sparse. This sense of isolation isn’t just physical; it’s woven into the very fabric of how educational systems have been structured, which can weigh heavily on you emotionally, contradicting the collaborative and interactive essence of teaching.

The tide is turning towards a more collaborative model in education. You no longer have to navigate the complexities of your profession alone. We are witnessing a significant shift where our technology is no longer just passive; it actively takes on roles and responsibilities. What we once viewed merely as tools are now becoming valued teammates, using their intelligence to become integral parts of the team.

This transformation allows these advanced tools to not only support but also enhance our workflows, making them indispensable contributors to our educational goals. By integrating these intelligent systems as team members, we foster a more dynamic, responsive, and efficient environment where technology and human insight collaborate seamlessly.

Welcoming AI into Your Team

While these AI tools are often referred to as “agents,” we prefer to think of them as team members who work alongside us. By collaborating with our AI tools, we can leverage their strengths and capabilities to enhance our own practice and create more powerful, personalized learning experiences for our students.

Introducing AI tools into our work opens new doors to redefine teamwork. AI can become more than just a tool; it can be a collaborator, adding a new dimension to your team. This allows you to delegate data-intensive or computation-heavy tasks to AI, freeing up more of your time to focus on the creative and interpersonal aspects that drew you to this profession in the first place. This shift from solitude to being part of a dynamic team can be profoundly liberating. It challenges the old narrative that teaching must be a solitary endeavor and promises not only to lighten your workload but also to enhance the learning experiences you provide.

As I reviewed the five key characteristics of AI agents, I realized something remarkable: if I hadn’t mentioned I was describing machines, you might assume I was talking about humans. Here are the five characteristics often used to describe AI agents:

Autonomy: Unlike traditional software that requires user input for every action, AI agents can operate independently within set parameters. This ability to act without constant guidance is key to what makes an agent powerful.

Decision-Making: AI agents can make decisions based on the data they process. They evaluate options, consider potential outcomes, and choose actions that align with their goals.

Goal-Oriented: AI agents are designed with specific goals in mind—whether scheduling tasks or solving complex problems. Their actions are directed toward achieving those goals, often navigating a series of decisions autonomously.

Interactivity: These agents interact with humans and other systems dynamically. Their responses are not just reactive but proactive, adapting to new information and situations in real-time.

Adaptability: AI agents learn from their experiences, adapting their behaviors to improve over time—just like how humans learn from experience. This ability to evolve is central to their functioning.

As I considered these characteristics, I couldn’t help but think of Daniel Pink’s concepts of autonomy, mastery, and purpose.69 Machines, like AI agents, can achieve autonomy and mastery—perhaps even better than humans in some cases. But it’s the purpose piece, that deep sense of meaning and drive, which I believe makes humans irreplaceable. While machines can adapt and learn, it’s the uniquely human capacity to pursue goals with purpose that distinguishes us, and this is where the human advantage lies.

Introducing AI tools into our work opens new doors to designing teams. AI can become more than just a tool; it can be a collaborator, adding a new dimension to your team. This allows you to delegate data-intensive or computation-heavy tasks to AI, freeing up more of your time to focus on the creative and interpersonal aspects that drew you to this profession in the first place. This shift from solitude to being part of a dynamic team can be profoundly liberating. It challenges the old narrative that teaching must be a solitary endeavor and promises not only to lighten your workload but also to enhance the learning experiences you provide.

When we make AI tools members of our team, they help us in numerous ways:

Lesson Design: AI team members can generate creative lesson ideas, curate relevant resources, and suggest engaging activities tailored to our students’ needs and interests. They can be our brainstorming partners, helping us create dynamic, differentiated learning experiences.

Assessment Creation: Our AI colleagues can assist in developing assessments that accurately measure student learning, provide instant feedback, and adapt to individual student performance. They can help us create a variety of assessment types, from quizzes and tests to project rubrics and portfolios.

Personalized Learning: Our AI partners can analyze student data, identify patterns and gaps in understanding, and recommend personalized learning paths for each student. They can help us create adaptive learning experiences that meet students where they are and support their individual growth and progress.

Administrative Tasks: AI team members can assist with administrative tasks such as scheduling, meeting notetakers, and communication with students and families. They can help us streamline these processes, saving us time and energy to focus on what matters most: teaching and learning.

As Kai-Fu Lee emphasizes, the future of AI is one of collaboration, not replacement.70 By making AI a collaborator in our work, we can leverage its strengths while ensuring that our uniquely human qualities—our compassion, courage, and sense of purpose—remain at the heart of everything we do. This is where the true potential of combining AI and your human spark.

How to HIRE Your AI Team

Hiring your AI team isn’t so different from bringing new human colleagues on board. Just as you would assess a potential colleague’s experience, skills, and fit within the team, you need to evaluate AI tools to ensure they align with your goals and values. Just as you evaluate a candidate’s past experiences, set clear expectations, define roles, and assess how they can contribute to your goals, you can apply a similar approach to make AI a meaningful part of your team. To help you structure this process, let’s look at the “HIRE” framework: History, Instructions, Roles, and Efficiency. This framework ensures we create an AI team that balances innovation with integrity, blending human strengths with machine capabilities.

H–History

Before incorporating AI tools into our work, it’s important to explore their history—how have they been used before, what are their strengths, and what are their weaknesses? For instance, AI has been successfully used to assist in strategic planning and data-driven decision-making, helping teachers and administrators identify trends and make informed choices, which ultimately saves valuable time. However, challenges such as biased data leading to inequitable outcomes highlight the need for careful oversight. Including specific examples helps us understand both the potential and the pitfalls of these tools. Just like with people, understanding an AI system’s “resume” gives us a sense of where its expertise lies and what limitations we need to be mindful of. This history helps us build trust and realistic expectations. AI has already demonstrated its strengths in personalized learning, real-time assessment, and administrative efficiency. However, there are weaknesses to note: biases in data can lead to inequitable outcomes, and over-reliance on automation may miss important contextual nuances. This understanding allows us to adapt as AI evolves, continuously improving how we leverage its capabilities and addressing challenges as they arise.

I–Instructions

Like any team member, AI needs clear instructions to thriv–e. Successful integration depends on how well we communicate what we need from these tools. Unlike human team members, AI lacks intuition and contextual understanding, which means instructions must be explicit and unambiguous. This requires careful consideration of language and expectations to avoid misunderstandings and ensure the AI operates as intended. When “hiring” an AI, we must think about what “instructions” are crucial to guide its actions. This includes defining goals, clarifying the types of data it will work with, and setting boundaries on its level of autonomy. For instance, when using AI for lesson planning, provide specific criteria—like aligning with curricular standards or your graduate profile—to help it deliver meaningful suggestions. Well-crafted instructions turn AI from a blunt tool into a precise collaborator, ensuring it acts in ways that genuinely benefit our classrooms.

R–Roles

What roles will these AI agents play in our team? Clearly defining the responsibilities of each AI agent is crucial for them to contribute effectively to our shared goals. An AI tool may take on the role of an assessment designer, a data analyst, or an administrative assistant. Clarifying these roles ensures that each AI agent’s work aligns seamlessly with human team members. This helps avoid overlap between AI and human roles, maintaining efficiency and preventing confusion. It’s also important to think about where human judgment is irreplaceable. For example, while AI can identify trends in student performance, it’s the teacher who interprets those trends in light of the student’s emotional and social context. By defining roles that complement human skills, we ensure that AI contributes without compromising our core values.

E-Efficiency

Finally, think about efficiency: How will this AI team member save time and let us focus on what matters most? Efficiency isn’t just about getting more done—it’s about freeing up time for what we do best: connecting with students, creating inspiring learning moments, and nurturing growth. For example, with AI handling grading or administrative paperwork, teachers can dedicate more time to one-on-one student mentoring or developing creative project-based learning activities. AI can handle repetitive, data-heavy tasks like grading quizzes or managing schedules, allowing us to invest our energy in areas where our humanity makes the biggest

difference. In this sense, efficiency is not an end in itself, but a means to give us more room to do what we love—to inspire, mentor, and uplift our students.

The HIRE framework ensures that our AI teammates are selected, instructed, and integrated thoughtfully, helping us strike the right balance between innovation and integrity. By treating AI as more than mere tools—by hiring them like we would human team members—we foster an environment where technology and humanity work hand-in-hand, enhancing the educational experience for both teachers and students.

Light Your SPARK #10: Who Would You Hire?

Imagine AI tools as potential members of your team, each bringing unique “skills” to the table. This exercise is designed to help you view AI tools as virtual team members, each capable of handling specific tasks to optimize your workflow. By evaluating your regular tasks through this lens, you can effectively delegate and focus on areas where human insight adds the most value.

Here’s How:

Column 1–Task: Think about the tasks you do regularly that take up significant time. Write these tasks in the first column. This could range from managing emails to creating reports.

Column 2–Potential AI ‘Candidate’: For each task, evaluate to what degree an AI task could support you. Write the name or type of AI tool next to the corresponding task.

Column 3–Your Decision: Hire or Not?: Decide whether you would delegate this task to the AI tool. Consider factors like time savings, efficiency, and the value of human touch in each task. Mark your decision in the third column.

Task
Potential AI Candidate
Join the Team:
Yes or No

Imagine your workflow with these AI tools in place. How does it change your daily routine? What new opportunities does it open up for you?

Practice: To help with this exercise, check out “Scout,” a specialized GPT—ready to help you decide which AI tools are the perfect fit to support your journey. Access Scout and more through the book’s free resource page at www.teachergoals.com/designing-resources or by scanning the QR code.

Share If You Wish: Optionally, share your Change Snapshot with a friend, family member, or with us at #myHumanSPARK. Discussing your experiences with change can offer insights and deepen connections.

SPARK–Your AI Team Needs Your
Human Command

The SPARK framework for prompting was created based on design thinking principles. It centers on the idea that we prompt the human before the machine. The SPARK framework—Situation, Problem, Aspiration, Results, and Kismet—represents more than just a structured approach to engaging with AI tools; it embodies both a method and a mindset that transcends ordinary task completion. This framework is an opportunity to deeply connect with the underlying reasons behind what you do, integrating the practical steps of problem-solving with a reflective approach to your work and aspirations.

Utilizing AI effectively is an empathy exercise—it reminds us to harness our human capital and employ technology judiciously. Every team member, including AI tools, needs clear instructions on their roles, the desired outcomes, and how they contribute to the team’s overall objectives. This clarity in delegation and leadership ensures that AI enhances team dynamics without overshadowing the human elements that are critical for creative and strategic thinking.

SPARK helps us learn how to utilize machines to achieve the above results, while ensuring that you are always the one in command. SPARK provides a structured approach to engaging with AI tools that goes beyond mere task completion. It’s an opportunity to deeply connect with the underlying reasons behind what you do. Every conversation with an AI tool using the SPARK framework isn’t just about external interaction; it’s also a dialogue with yourself.

For example, vague instructions or a prompt to an AI team member might be:

Write about photosynthesis.

This prompt is vague and much too broad. The result will lack specificity. A better prompt would be:

Draft a 500-word article on the major properties of photosynthesis.

Even this better prompt is going to pale in comparison to what might be generated with an even more specific prompt. Since AI draws from millions of sources on the internet, it needs help in drawing it to the data that is most relevant to your needs. An even better prompt might be:

I have been teaching high school biology for ten years. Next week, I am planning a lesson on photosynthesis, and I want to use a hands-on activity to help my students understand the process better. I’ve read Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, and I want to apply its principles to make the lesson more engaging and memorable. I have three 50-minute periods to present the lessons. Do you have any suggestions?

This personalizes the prompt by telling the machine our expectations, our experience, and what we hope to accomplish. Now the machine can fully assist with information that is aligned with our goals. It helps you connect with your calling.

Use SPARK to help you identify:

Situation–What do you want to do as it relates to your current role and context?

Problem–What is a barrier that holds you back?

Aspiration–What is your vision of success? Who do you want to be? Why do you care to solve this problem?

Results–What results would you like to see?

Kismet–Ask for five strategies to get you started.

A math educator might ask the AI to act as a fifth-grade educator and create a lesson plan on fractions. The AI will offer generic instructions. However, to take it to the next level, the educator might personalize the “ask” to get more interesting responses:

As a fifth grade educator, I’m finding it challenging to create engaging activities that will help my students understand converting fractions to decimals. I aspire to make learning about fractions fun and interactive for my students, and ChatGPT could help me generate creative ideas for teaching fractions, such as games or manipulatives. My dream outcome is for my students to become confident in their understanding of converting fractions and to be motivated to learn more about math. Give me five strategies to get started.

That’s the power of SPARK! Giving AI more to work with results in more strategies and ideas. AI can help us move closer and closer toward those big ideas, leaning into our insights for what we know we need but don’t always have the time and resources to create. S.P.A.R.K. is key in helping us to better define the problem we want to solve so that AI can help us find better solutions. It’s the physical expression of Einstein’s quote: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solution.”

By engaging with AI in this way, you’re not just leveraging technology to solve problems; you’re also using it as a mirror to reflect on your motivations, aspirations, and professional journey. This reflective process ensures that each interaction with AI contributes to a deeper understanding of your personal and professional narrative, enhancing both your work and your personal growth.

You can give SPARK a try here.

As we move towards Kurzweil’s 2029 prediction of achieving human-level AI, integrating AI tools into our teams becomes increasingly crucial.71 OpenAI describes this progression through five levels of AI engagement:

Automation: This level involves using AI for simple, repetitive tasks, akin to basic interaction. It’s the starting point where AI handles routine queries and tasks, freeing up human resources for more complex challenges.

Assistance: AI acts as a supportive tool, providing suggestions and aiding decision-making processes. This is similar to collaborative problem-solving, where AI contributes ideas and insights.

Augmentation: AI enhances human capabilities by offering personalized insights and recommendations. This aligns with personalized learning, where AI adapts to individual needs and learning styles.

Autonomy: At this stage, AI systems can operate independently in certain contexts, making decisions based on predefined criteria. This level mirrors cognitive enhancement, where AI helps identify patterns and connections.

Symbiosis: The ultimate level of AI integration, where AI and humans work in a seamless partnership. This is akin to a symbiotic partnership, approaching Kurzweil’s vision of human-level AI.

By engaging with AI across these levels, you’re not just leveraging technology to solve problems; you’re preparing for a future where AI is an integral part of our professional and personal lives. This progressive engagement ensures that each interaction with AI contributes to a deeper understanding of both the technology’s capabilities and your own potential, enhancing your work and personal growth as we move towards the transformative era Kurzweil envisioned.

Of course, AI team members are not a replacement for human educators. They are a complementary force, an additional resource that we can draw upon to amplify our impact and effectiveness. Ultimately, it is the unique blend of human expertise, judgment, and empathy with the efficiency, precision, and scalability of AI that holds the key to transforming education in the AI era. Throughout this book you’ve been engaging with members of my AI team. Chatbots that I’ve designed to accelerate your ability to reflect and apply the ideas you are reading. And you can create your own as well.

Once our mission is clear, we must adjust the mindset with which we implement design thinking. Adopting a team-oriented mindset that includes AI means tapping into a support system that was once difficult to even envision. It’s a profound shift, both emotionally and professionally, that not only alleviates the traditional burdens of solitary work but also enriches the educational journeys of both you and your students. By embracing AI as a member of your team, you are doing more than just adapting to new technological changes; you are spearheading a movement towards a more interactive, supportive, and innovative educational environment.

Act 5
Building Cultures of Innovation

Inner SPARK Affirmation: Leading to Inspire

Say this out loud with me:

I step into my role as a leader with a clear vision: to make teaching the most rewarding and impactful job ever. I cultivate an environment where passion for learning and innovation thrives. My leadership is defined not by authority, but by guidance, empathy, and the ability to inspire. I am committed to supporting every educator’s journey, recognizing their unique talents and potential. Together, we create a space where teachers feel valued, respected, and motivated to excel. I encourage open dialogue, continuous learning, and mutual respect. As a leader, I set the standard for a culture that cherishes growth, celebrates achievements, and nurtures future leaders. Our community becomes a beacon of educational excellence, where teaching is not just a profession, but a calling fulfilled with joy and pride.

Chapter 22
Failure is Feedback.
Feedback is Knowledge. Knowledge is Power.

A design thinking process only works when there is an open and welcoming culture for feedback. That feedback can come from students, colleagues, and the community. Too often, we craft ideas without thinking about (and hearing from) the people we are designing for. However, design thinking is developed by and for the students it serves and the communities supporting them. Where traditional learning forces square pegs into round holes, design thinking models are tailor-made for the communities they serve. As a result, the model can change from year to year, semester to semester, or even day to day as the students and situations change. That is the power of “How might we?” as it unlocks many possibilities. It invites feedback and lets every stakeholder know that their perspectives matter.

Feedback means buy-in. When students, parents, and the community are engaged, they take ownership of education in a new and exciting way. In particular, students come alive when they see their ideas being practiced in the school setting. Actively seeking and embracing feedback from learners communicates a powerful message that their voices are valued and respected. To be clear, it is not enough to hear students; they must see their voices come alive in the shape of the learning that is taking place to feel empowered. The payoff is that learners are challenged, excited, involved, self-motivated, and interested. This sense of empowerment increases motivation and enthusiasm among students as they realize that their input can bring about meaningful change. This creates a confidence in them that they will exude when they leave college and enter the workforce.

Parents and the community feel a deeper connection to the educational process when their perspectives are considered, fostering a collaborative and supportive relationship with the school. As a result, the entire educational ecosystem becomes more dynamic, inclusive, and adaptive, creating a positive feedback loop where the collective efforts of all involved parties drive continuous improvement. It flows throughout the learning community to and from everyone involved. The classroom is not “the educator’s room.” Instead, it becomes their home for learning and belongs as much to them as anyone because they had a hand in designing everything about the space.

Learners also discover feedback’s power in their work in class. They are empowered to try again no matter what the outcomes. The attempts are celebrated. Failed attempts are just an open door to try something new, discover what went wrong on a prior attempt, and develop innovative ideas. Students are free to enjoy the process of trying things they aren’t sure of. The discouragement from returning to the beginning and trying again is eliminated as students learn to celebrate the process. They discover that all iterations of learning are important along the journey to finding a solution. They refine their learning with other students, technology, and research. And, with the educator as a supporter rather than a taskmaster waiting to brand them with an “F,” fear is also eliminated. Educators surrender the burden of the need for authority, control, restraint, and power and settle into the joy of their responsibility as design-thinking strategists. Educators no longer have to be the “one”: the one with all the knowledge, the one with all the answers, the one lecturing from the front of the room. Learning can flow throughout the space among everyone.

Students are comfortable with being vulnerable in the experimentation phases of learning in ways they could not afford in a traditional environment where failure is punished. They have agency and can flow where their energies are taking them. At the end of a project or lesson, students as young as five or six can clearly describe their processes, the challenges they faced, and answer probative questions about what they did, why they did it, what worked, and what didn’t work. Even students who might have experienced discomfort presenting their work and explaining their processes in the past grow a sense of pride that spurs them to want to share.

What Happens When We Tell Stories

These communication skills, as well as working with people who are different from you in age, ability, etc., and finding ways to collaborate, are the very skills that will make them viable leaders in a fast-evolving world. For example, Professor Scott Galloway recently shared that one million dollar skill is storytelling. Storytelling is embedded in every aspect from the story of our learning that builds our self awareness to the story of how we impact and influence change–stories are a unique human advantage in an AI world.

The magic of storytelling is a tool design-oriented schools use to inspire and motivate change in a school community. For example, one school shared how its learners spent the year exploring the theme of power resulting from a unit on identity and bias. In a traditional classroom environment, the educator would likely start with a ready-made lesson. However, in a design thinking model, the lessons begin with the learners. Students were asked, “What does power mean to you?” as a way of designing tasks that were personal and relevant to them. From there, educators met daily to build on the ideas shared by the students and thought about how to integrate their responses.

They looked at the power of words and the power we all exert every day. Then, the concept of kindness was discussed, as the students discussed and looked at acts of kindness that happen every day but are often overlooked. They also discussed microaggressions and biases to help them think more deeply about kindness in the face of the challenges in today’s society.

This moved quickly into a study of animals and the idea of kindness. This sparked a wave of language arts work in the practice of storytelling. Through storytelling, students dived deeper into the power of words. They engaged in a learning task where the goal was to tell the story of a family member. The students conducted interviews with family members and came back to class to share six powerful words that stood out to them from the interview that would help tell the story. It was amazing to see first and second-graders grapple with the idea of what a powerful word is. Once again, by allowing the learners to direct the conversation, the educator could empathize with them and see which words were the most meaningful to them.

Building a Community That Amplifies and Sustains Innovation

In a design thinking school, not a moment is wasted. Students are learning and growing as design thinkers consciously and subconsciously. For that matter, not an inch of space is wasted. Even a simple hallway can be used as a learning space.

For example, one student noticed the number of plastic forks and spoons being used in the cafeteria. He got an idea. It could have been an idea that dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of others have had. But for them, it was a fleeting thought that came and left. However, since this student had been taught to think outside the box and was confident to share his ideas, he was empowered to take action.

His idea was to meet with the leaders in the district in charge of the lunch program and research how many plastic utensils were being used and discarded throughout the district. He researched and found a company that offered bamboo utensils that biodegrade and have a smaller ecological footprint. After his research, he proposed a plan to limit the district’s use of plastic and lessen the district’s non-biodegradable waste. He saw how he could make an impact and took steps to make it happen. It was just another show of incredible leadership developed in a design-thinking culture. He was just in the third grade. This is the kind of culture students enjoy in a design-thinking school. The community of educators, learners, and other stakeholders is stronger in this kind of paradigm because of all the input and feedback that flows from one person to another. Innovation happens easily when people can release all of the other restrictions that come into play in a traditional school and just let their minds be free.

We’ve covered this at length. However, it cannot be overstated that empathy must be at the heart of implementing a design thinking project, series, or even an entire school. This makes this model unique and the best-known way to approach problem-solving.

What are some of the activities we use when starting design thinking? First, we set aside our impulse to identify the unique challenges that await us. We can’t solve a problem without first identifying it and, more importantly, deeply understanding the people we are problem-solving for. We don’t move forward to find solutions until we feel we have exhausted our understanding and investigation of the problem.

“Brain dumping” is often useful here because it helps us empty our minds of our preconceived notions by putting all our assumptions on the table. With our minds free, we can search for experiences, memories, knowledge, and any other research to put all the available data on the table. This makes our problem-solving work more effective, and it’s why we begin with empathy. Doing so ensures that what we think is challenged by what we learn. This is done by both educators and students in all facets of the educational experience.

Chapter 23
Addressing Skepticism

What Do We Mean By Learning

Instead of a top-down approach, professional development in design thinking evokes a culture of innovation built on autonomy, trust, and purpose among educators where they can design their professional learning and work together to build on ideas. As a result, they have an internal drive to continue mastery, uncover needs, and continuously learn how to design solutions for those needs. That is the role of leaders both in the classroom and in the administration spaces. We must create a design thinking culture. But we cannot pretend that this will be an easy task.

As technology expands, skepticism grows. It’s a sentiment deeply rooted in our past experiences, stemming from a history littered with unfulfilled promises or unwanted consequences. We’ve been repeatedly assured of the transformative power of technology, only to find ourselves confronted with its limitations and shortcomings. Or, worse, we watch as it destroys or at least damages some part of society we held dear. Who can forget how tech companies wooed us with the wonders of smart phones only to find that its unintended consequences included high cost, near-mandatory adoption, distracted driving, cyberbullying, and a whole host of disorders from easy access to social media.

Why should educators, parents, students, and administrators believe that, this time, things can be different?

The promises of technology have often been lofty and ambitious, painting a picture of a future where all our problems are solved, where the boundaries of possibility are pushed ever further. But perhaps therein lies the key to understanding why this time can be different. We learn from our mistakes, adapting and refining our approach with each iteration and, just maybe, resulting in a better understanding of the challenges we face.

Moreover, there’s a growing recognition of the need for responsible innovation. Ethical considerations are no longer an afterthought but an integral part of the development process. From privacy concerns to the impact on jobs and society at large, the ethical implications of technology are being scrutinized and debated more than ever before. By placing ethics at the forefront of technological advancement, we can ensure that the benefits are shared equitably and that no one is left behind.

Overcoming Resistance: Advocating for a New Way Forward

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win. -Mahatma Gandhi

It would be great to suggest that making changes in the educational system on either small or massive levels will be met with shouts of praise and cheers from every corner. But to say such a thing at this point would not be true. The truth is that people who try to dismantle the old teaching and learning system are often reprimanded, chastised, or vilified. Innovators and progressive educators who challenge the status quo may encounter resistance from those who fear change or are invested in traditional methods. After all, the system is locked in a vicious cycle where the “rules” are handed down in the form of curricula testing, methods, or whatever is in vogue at the time. Anyone who questions or rejects them may be seen as an enemy of the status quo.

In his work The World as Will and Representation, 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1818), wrote about the three stages of truth:

Ridicule

In the ridicule stage, innovative ideas are mocked by the majority who cannot comprehend or accept them. They see the new idea as a minor player in the field and wave it away, assuming it will run its course and ultimately disappear. So, they pay it no mind and wait for it to vanish. When it doesn’t, they move to stage two.

Violent Opposition

In the second stage, the innovative ideas face violent opposition as they challenge established beliefs and threaten the status quo. People spread rumors and gossip, draft articles, give interviews, spout opposing ideas, and do whatever they think will cause disruption.

Acceptance

Finally, after passing through the stages of ridicule and opposition, if the idea’s proponents continue to do their excellent work, the innovative ideas are accepted as self-evident truths. People claim that they “knew it all along.”

History has shown that transformative ideas are often met with skepticism before they are embraced and acknowledged for their positive impact. As we navigate the complexities of educational reform, it is essential to remember that change requires perseverance while doing excellent work. Advocates of educational innovation must continue to share their successes, demonstrate the tangible benefits of their approaches, and build a coalition of like-minded individuals who believe in the power of change for the betterment of education and, ultimately, the learners of tomorrow.

Throughout history, revolutionaries dared to challenge the status quo and propose innovative ideas. But to do it meant risking two unpleasant reactions. The first is ridicule as was seen in 1899 when the U. S. Patents Commissioner said, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.”72 The second is opposition. Who can forget when the New York Times wrote, “The ridiculous fiasco which attended the attempt at aerial navigation… was not unexpected… it might be assumed that the flying machine really might have evolved… in one million to ten million years.”73

The history teacher in me knows these stories well. Consider Nelson Mandela, the iconic leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, who dedicated his life to the struggle against racial discrimination and oppression despite being fiercely opposed by the apartheid regime and imprisoned. Mandela’s moral courage inspired a global movement for justice and equality, and his release from prison in 1990 marked the beginning of a new era for South Africa, culminating in the dismantling of apartheid and the birth of a multiracial democracy. Mandela’s ideas, once dismissed as radical and impractical, became the cornerstone of a nation’s reconciliation.

Even the great Ludwig van Beethoven, perhaps the most celebrated composer in history, defied convention when he transformed the landscape of classical music with his revolutionary compositions. Beethoven’s symphonies, sonatas, and concertos pushed the boundaries of traditional musical forms. He faced criticism and resistance from composers and critics who found his compositions too radical and unconventional. Over time, Beethoven’s compositions gained widespread recognition and acclaim, transcending cultural and geographical boundaries and paved the way for future generations of musicians and composers.

Frida Kahlo, the Mexican artist known for her vivid and surreal self-portraits, challenged societal norms as she redefined the concept of beauty and identity. In a male-dominated art world, her unconventional style and subject matter were initially dismissed as too eccentric and self-indulgent. Critics struggled to even categorize her work, labeling it as derivative. Today, she is celebrated for the emotion and symbolic imagery she managed to express.

Trailblazer, Susan B. Anthony, pioneered the suffragist and women’s rights movement, risking her life to see women get the right to vote. She faced arrest and ridicule for her activism. The passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which granted women the right to vote, was due in large part to Anthony’s grassroots activism.

Finally, Martin Luther King Jr. paid the ultimate price for promoting change. As a towering civil rights movement leader, he spearheaded a nonviolent struggle for racial equality and social justice in the United States, enduring fierce opposition from segregationists and supremacists who viewed the civil rights movement as a threat to their way of life. King and his fellow activists were subjected to violence, intimidation, and harassment. Still, King continued to share the message of love, peace, and justice. His iconic “I Have a Dream” speech marked a turning point in the struggle for civil rights, contributing to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He was shot and killed for taking a stand for a more just society.

Proponents of tech innovation and design thinking are not likely to pay for their passions with their lives. But the path to widespread adoption may be difficult and may require deep reserves of commitment and advocacy until every school in the U.S. represents a culture of students who love to learn and educators who believe they have the best job ever!

It’s Not Change...It’s Loss

People usually think that resistance to change is insurmountable. But, in truth, people are not resisting change; they are fearing loss. Change is inevitable, and change always takes place in education. There are changes from year to year, class to class, principal to principal, etc. So, it is not truly the change they fear. They simply don’t want to lose. We must believe in the goodness of people who choose education as a profession. At one time, we were all that dreamy-eyed idealists, stepping off the campus grounds with graduation caps in one hand and degrees in the other. We all thought we were going to change the world. But, when the traditional system crushed those dreams, we had a big decision: fight against it or settle into it. After even a couple of years of bowing to the system, many educators can’t remember when they folded and accepted mediocrity.

Change can happen with the right strategies, with strong advocacy, and with effective communication. There will come a time when design thinking is the norm, and our K-12 institutions well serve all students. Until that time, we must continue to be the ambassadors for change. As William Gibson shares, “The future is already here, it just isn’t evenly distributed.”74

It won’t be until we invest in the teaching profession, understanding that schools serve as the primary group who can create access and opportunity to the future.

If you are an administrator expecting 100% compliance by your teaching staff, you might be setting yourself up to fail. You cannot change behavior until hearts and minds have changed. Hearts and minds can only change with compelling evidence that design thinking is better. However, it’s not only that. educators must also be assured that failure won’t land them in your office chair, sitting across from you, having to explain why. Steve Bartlett, host of the podcast, “Diary of a CEO” shares failure is feedback, feedback is knowledge, and knowledge is power.75 But because most people are afraid to fail, they never got the knowledge they need to get power.

This is no simple feat. Therefore, strategies to overcome resistance must be in place to ensure design thinking advocates remain strong.

Building Bridges: Strategies to
Overcome Resistance

Let’s be honest: everyone in education is a part of the hierarchy. Educators report to department heads, principals, and superintendents, who report to state leaders who work under federal guidelines. These people report to parents and taxpayers in the community who fund education. But, finally, we all report to students—the learners we promise to prepare for the future. We owe them their best shot at making a positive impact on the world.

If we are going to tear down old paradigms, we had better be prepared to also build bridges that help people move from where they are to where they hope to be. Many strategies can be used to overcome resistance regardless of where that resistance comes from. While it may seem small, one great place to start is by talking to the educators in your school, one educator at a time or in groups, and challenging them to accept what most educators already know—the old way is no longer sufficient. By challenging them to resist the status quo and embrace a more effective way, you permit them to trust their guts that are screaming that things have to change. They know the daily struggles of education and want to be more valuable in their work. The dream they nursed of changing lives is not dead; it’s just dormant and needs to be reawakened. As they learn about design thinking and what it can do, it will nourish those old dreams and bring them back to life.

Chapter 24
How Great Leaders Inspire a Shared Vision

I’m intrigued by how the World Economic Forum listed “Leadership and Social Influence” together as a trending skill. They could have listed each separately. However, choosing to group them indicates a strong signal about what it means to lead today. Ultimately, leaders are influential. I often wish everyone was able to see the incredible work happening around the world in our schools by these incredible leaders. It’s a stark contrast from the narrative we often hear in the media. This is why it is important for educators to tell their stories, sharing the journey they are on each day with their communities.

In his research, David Notgrass calls these individuals transformational leaders. He says they are those who encourage creativity, recognize accomplishments, build trust, and inspire a collective vision. School leaders can easily use their authority to demand change from their educators. However, the power of influence trumps force and coercion by securing buy-in, enthusiasm, and motivation. And that influence builds the trust you need to make people feel safe.

There is no better example than the Disney movie, Monsters Inc. For centuries, monsters hide under the bed and in the closet, lurking and waiting to scare children, using their screams to power their cities. Through a lot of mishaps, they discover that laughter is far more powerful than screams and never needed to terrify children. Educators can take a page from the movie, learning that students who are engaged, excited, and independently motivated to learn, and can do so with the help of new age technology, are easy to teach.

Introducing innovative methods like design thinking into the education system can be a transformative experience. First, however, advocates and champions who want the school to succeed in implementing this approach are needed. Becoming adept at building trust with educators, parents, and other stakeholders that design thinking is a winning strategy makes all the difference in the adoption of this approach. This is true whether the goal is a design thinking unit or a complete overhaul of the school’s education paradigm.

Perhaps the biggest concept stakeholders need to reconcile is that they can transform from the traditional model to one that better serves today’s students and themselves as educators. All of the old structures that have been used for the past one hundred years were created by humans. Therefore, it seems obvious that humans can also dismantle them. We can create a new modus operandi and ensure it works for the learners.

Once we ask and answer the “why we do things” questions, we often chuckle at the absurdity of our current model. With the old model removed, we can ask what our new normal should be, what exceptional teaching looks like, and what kinds of culture are most conducive to learning. That question is asked of educators, parents, students, and the community at large so that the answers are also crafted by the community of stakeholders who share a common vision. Then, design thinking allows you to create a space ideal for the situation.

So, what does this look like when you are navigating a topic as complex as artificial intelligence in education? For the past three years I’ve had the privilege of partnering with Santa Ana Unified School District as they integrate a design thinking approach to AI. You’ll read the five shifts Superintendent Almendarez believes are essential for today’s leaders who want to build trust, encourage creativity, recognize accomplishments, and inspire a shared vision.

The Five Shifts Every Leader Needs to Make in an AI World

Jerry never set out to be a leader in education. He studied accounting but didn’t discover his passion for education until later in life. Fortunately, his wife was in education and encouraged him to substitute teach until he figured out what he wanted to do. That is where a love of all things educational was born. He never got a chance to sub. Math educators were in such high demand, the sight of a resume with a mathematical background had administrators salivating for the chance to hire him as a permanent educator in a middle school math department.

Jerry’s first day as a new educator mimics that of many educators under the antiquated system of education we labor under today in public schools. He was handed a math textbook, keys to his classroom, and a pat on the back. The only instruction he was given was where to find his classroom. No conversation about culture. No goals. No encouragement. No training. Just a thick book and a handshake to start his teaching career. From such threadbare support, he was expected to enter a classroom and engage students in a meaningful way in a subject that historically has drawn the ire (or fear) of students: math.

Jerry recalls that moment when the door swung open, and a group of students filed in. The expressions on their faces matched him: trepidation, curiosity, and fear. Mercifully, Jerry was in the field that had been waiting for him all his adult life. In only a few days, he got his sea legs and was able to connect with his students deeply enough to win their trust. In return, they opened their minds to him, allowing him to pour the knowledge in. Jerry achieved the flow state so many thrill-seekers refer to when they hang off the side of a mountain or swim underwater into a deep sea cave. There is only the joy of the moment. Jerry was in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.

Cream always rises to the top. In Jerry’s case, it wasn’t long before administrators tapped his shoulder, suggesting he should leave the classroom and move into the front office to help run the school. Jerry fought them off for years before finally continuing his education to become an assistant principal and, later, a principal. He rose through the ranks to superintendent of his district where he worked for 16 years.

Jerry models the principle of the lifelong learner. He is constantly exposing himself to the latest methods in education and beyond to be sure that the schools he leads remain on the cutting edge of industry, culture, science, and tech. This knowledge synergized an understanding of what it means to lead in the educational space and prompted him to create the “Five Essential Shifts Leaders Need to Make in a Rapidly Changing World.”

These shifts are not just individual transformations; they are critical in creating the culture that makes design thinking possible.

The shifts are necessary because the status quo is no longer sufficient. We’re experiencing things like:

Declining enrollment

Chronic absenteeism

Educator and support staff shortages

Budget reductions

Political divide

Since we are clearly in a period of transformation, how can we lead differently to be commensurate with the times we are in? Jerry’s district identified these five shifts to reimagine leadership in the organization.

The first is shifting from a manager to an inspirational leader.

Shift #1–Leaders Must Move from Being Managers to Being Inspirational Leaders

It’s not enough for educators to learn what they need to learn to function in the spaces where they work. Leaders make this mistake all the time in schools, companies, and organizations. They narrow their focus in learning to include the topics that surround their field. While that is commendable, inspirational leaders cast a wider gaze. They embrace different ways of thinking, different viewpoints, and new approaches. Jerry has had to demonstrate this, for example, during the rollout of a new initiative. Though there are traditional methods of onboarding schools to the new program, he has been open to innovative methods for ensuring a successful rollout with the highest level of buy-in and the least amount of resistance.

Inspirational leaders practice various methods of cultivating the kinds of environments where their teams want to engage as opposed to being mandated to do the work. To engage the people you lead that deeply, inspirational leaders must be vulnerable.

Vulnerability is no one’s favorite word. The thought of it makes us feel exposed, emotionally naked, and at risk. But vulnerability is the very state of being we fear that is most effective in setting the tone for the culture the leader hopes to create. Vulnerability requires us to listen, gather feedback from our teams, and then actually reflect on that feedback. The result is that the team members start to see themselves in the culture. They see their ideas mixing into the DNA of the organization. As such, they lower their shields and offer vulnerability in return.

Imagine the culture that is created when educational teams don’t fear the next new things in teaching because they know it won’t be shoved at them under threat of losing their jobs for failure to comply. Instead, teams understand that any new ideas will be parsed, discussed, and examined from every possible angle, and that they will be empowered to shape its implementation in the school’s culture.

Jerry remembers when he first discovered the importance of this mindset: “For me the leadership shift started with the pandemic, one of the loneliest and most difficult times of my Superintendency. I found myself trying to navigate the challenges we faced and quickly realized there were not a lot of answers to our questions. But I knew in my heart that we had to do something different. We had to come out of the pandemic better than we went in. So, we set out on a journey to do just that and create our own future. We didn’t know how we we’re going to do it, but we knew things had to change.”

Another seismic shift happened when ChatGPT was released. Jerry presented it to his team with enthusiasm only to hear the metaphorical crickets chirping. His team thought he had gone slightly mad. He could tell they thought this was the latest of many new apps.

That’s when he realized that something like this was something he needed to “show” rather than “tell.” He demonstrated the capabilities of the tech and how they could use it as a tool to speed up and improve many of the processes they previously took hours to do each week.

Heads nodded. Eyebrows lifted. Postures changed as people moved toward the fronts of their chairs. But Jerry didn’t assume they were fully bought in. He took the next step of asking questions to deepen their emotional and professional investment:

What are some ways you might use ChatGPT in your classrooms?

What tasks are taking up your time and preventing you from doing what you would rather focus on?

What are some problems you’re facing that you might ask ChatGPT to offer some solutions?

The conversation moved from a slow, labored trod through quicksand to a quick-moving frenzied conversation bursting with excitement and ideas. Suddenly, they had taken ownership of the idea and this strengthened the possibilities that we can create when we step into our role as transformational leaders. Those who inspire, not instruct.

Anytime there are major changes like the ones we have experienced and, frankly, like the ones that are surely coming, it helps to remember that we are in a VUCA environment.

Volatility: refers to the rate of change and the unpredictability of its timing and nature.

Uncertainty: highlights the lack of predictability and the prospects for surprise.

Complexity: points to the multitude of forces and the chaos that surrounds an organization.

Ambiguity: emphasizes the haziness of reality and the mixed meanings of conditions.

A VUCA environment requires us to be asking: “So if this is our new normal, how are we going to lead differently?”

Jerry, like many leaders, lived in a generation that was different from the one he was leading. That meant that he had to commit to learning the language they spoke as well as teaching them the language he spoke. Phrases like ChatGPT, TikTok, reels, and stories needed to be a part of the culture in the district because it was vital for connecting with educators and essential for understanding their students’ world.

Many of the meetings taking place across the country are centered around creating environments for generations they don’t fully understand. We all look at the world through a certain lens that might not be accessible to our teams of our students. Jerry sought out innovators, researchers, designers and thought partners who could pull him into the spaces that would keep him informed and relevant in a fast-moving world culture. He took their advice to heart. For example, he was advised that he needed to dive into the world of TikTok to know what students were thinking. He found educators and others in the educational space and was intrigued and curious about what they had to say.

It was TikTok, in fact, that first exposed him to the concept of ChatGPT. He conducted his research only to find that the people who were endorsing ChatGPT and extolling its many virtues were Silicon Valley CEOs.

Shift #2–Leaders Must Shift from a Vision Statement to a Vision in Action

Most district partners have a yearly tradition of coming together to talk about the goals and strategies for the coming year. They work through it and, when they are done, celebrate their accomplishment. Then, sadly, they leave the meeting and rarely interact with what they discussed at the meeting.

Think about all the companies or organizations you have worked with in your career. Some never mention or even post the company’s vision. Others go so far as to hang a sign in the main lobby or tack it onto the bottom of their correspondence. But most of the company’s do not make their vision a daily guide for the direction and trajectory of the organization.

A 2019 Gallup poll showed that only a quarter of employees believed in their company’s vision statement.76 This begs the question: how many employees know and connect with their school’s or organization’s vision? It’s an important question since the vision statement must serve as both the individual and corporate North Star guiding a company toward their primary goals.

Inspirational leaders must develop a vision that demands our constant interaction with it. They must consistently engage with vision and recalibrate as they observe how the vision is playing out in their schools, with their educators, and for the benefit of their students.

Jerry and his team have outlined specific characteristics to describe what this vision looks like and offer guidance as the entire district works together to implement it. These characteristics are embedded in the student’s graduation profile so that every student’s learning experience revolves around them. They are:

Students are architects of their own learning.

Students are collaborative leaders.

Students are global innovators.

Students are world-ready scholars.

Students are empathetic communicators.

Students are community builders.

Shift #3 – Leaders Must Move from Measurement-Focus to a Future Impact Focus

Jerry and his team realized that they had created a system that was not specifically designed for the needs of the students of his district, Orange County’s Santa Ana Unified School District. The district, which had been one of the area’s lower performing districts, had trends that had flatlined. They decided to engage with the students directly to start the conversation. What they found was although outcomes were important, it was equally if not more important to concern themselves with the future impact would be, asking these important questions:

What opportunities would be available for students after graduation?

What were our students saying about their educational experiences?

How were we engaging them so that they would be independent learners?

This is where my work with Jerry and his team began as we conducted listening sessions with the students who expressed a desire for learning to be both fun and impactful. They wanted to participate in crafting their own learning. The challenge for Jerry was to determine what that looked like.

The student listening sessions were incredibly informative because they learned that students felt their educators didn’t understand them, didn’t connect with them, didn’t have empathy for them, and weren’t listening to them.

What did they learn? They were heading in the wrong direction. A kindergartener raised his hand and said, “I don’t learn well sitting down for six hours.” A middle school student raised her hand and said, “I just wish the educator would pronounce my name correctly.” A high school sophomore said, “I don’t even bother going to my algebra class because the educator gives me a hard time before I can even sit in my seat.” Students were telling us that they don’t care about the lesson if they know the adults don’t care about them.

At the educator listening sessions, the educators said they were overloaded with compliance, meetings, standards, and other demands on their time. At the administrative listening sessions, they asked the principals why the educators were frustrated and feeling unsupported. They said it was the district’s demands, constant meeting, reports, etc. that were pulling them away from supporting the educators.

It hit Jerry’s team that perhaps the problems could be traced to the executive cabinet–his office! The buck stopped with him. The executive team thought carefully about how they could use available technology to free up their time to support the principals more. The principals joined in by looking at how they could use AI to make their work more streamlined so they could walk around their schools, support their educators, and connect with students. The support principals gave the educators more time to engage the students. They could slow down, listen, hear, and help.

The adults decided to be more engaging with the students and turn their attention to outcome-based experiences. However, they realized that the shift needed to happen with the adults before it could be meaningful to the students. Adults would have to figure out new ways to engage that would make learning more exciting. They didn’t use more measurement tools; they needed to invite students to be architects of their learning.

And Robyn Macnair, who you might remember from earlier who believed that creativity is not optional immediately took the lead. Robyn’s investment in bringing design thinking to her team before ChatGPT in November of 2022 positioned the Arts department to lead themselves and later the district through a disruption most could barely wrap their heads around.

Right away, they saw educators in the Arts and Film department take the lead in embracing this new vision in action metric. The students responded immediately. It was exciting to see and document on social media to show the community the work that was being done. Students were going into the Metaverse and creating their own designs. Media students were using AI in media production, using AI to assist in script writing.

Schools have historically reported their success in terms of numbers. But, by using design-thinking to put the focus back on the end-user, the student, the district discovered a more effective way to inspire a culture of learning.

Jerry and his team knew that they needed to protect and nurture this culture to ensure it continued. That led them to the next shift.

Shift #4–Leaders Must Move from Authority-Centric to People-Centric

As much as we like to think that leaders have all the answers, the truth reveals something different. The conversation must be inclusive of all stakeholders to find the broadest, most effective solutions from people at every stage of the learning process. They committed to only roll out district-wide initiatives under a design thinking framework where everyone was involved in the conversation. The district started with the guardrails to protect the overall spirit of the initiative; but everything else was in play.

Implementation came through engagement with everyone from students to parents to educators to administrators. They brought people together both physically and virtually. Soon, they were the epitome of a trending skill identified by the World Economic Forum–leadership and social influence, allowing them to tell their story to the community and to the world.

When people visited their social media pages, they could see the organization’s effort in print, video, and photos. Visitors to the site saw how the work was aligned with the educational standards. Video and photos were captured at the school level, the district was tagged, and everyone pushed it out for all to see.

Shifting from authority-centric to people-centric starts with embracing their lens of the educational experience our students were having. The narrative was in the hands of the educators themselves. This takes us to the fifth shift which is the glue that holds this entire approach together.

Shift #5–Leaders Must Move from Secrecy and Development in Isolation to Developing a Culture of Empathy and Trust

Jerry’s 16 years of superintendent experience and three decades of education experience had been predominantly characterized by educators working in isolation. Even after throwing billions of dollars at the problem, rolling out new programs, and installing new curricula, schools across America, by and large, had not changed. Staffing didn’t bring us better outcomes. Neither did new infrastructure like shiny buildings and better stadiums.

Jerry and his team discovered that the secret key was giving people permission to try new things, encouraging them to fail fast and often, and supporting them as they tried and tried and tried again. Top leaders in the district humbled themselves enough to be the models of this shift. And, they committed to be transparent, feeling that the school sites needed to see administrators embrace this philosophy by revealing their failures as well as their successes.

District leaders were the first to try AI. They started small with a group of early adopters. But it spread like wildfire and they created an advisory committee for AI, reflecting once again creating a culture of innovation that begins with empathy.

The Advisory Committee was a volunteer organization. They worked with educators as well as the district leadership team. The classroom educators adopted it in hopes that it would make their work more efficient. Jerry respected the wishes of those who were resistant to AI, allowing them to decide whether or not they would adopt it and exacting no penalty for those who refused.

The 40- to 50-member committee developed AI Guidance in conjunction with their legal team and Designing Schools. Jerry believes that any school district can do what his did.

Jerry advises educators, parents, or administrators to be the first to start the conversation by doing the following:

Learn as much as you can personally about whatever platform you are recommending.

Experiment with the various platforms along with others who share your vision.

Print out research articles to give you more credibility. (Try the World Economic Forum, McKinsey and Company.)

Ask the school how to share what you’ve learned and enlist other adopters.

As Jerry shares, “What we’ve been doing in the past isn’t working.”

It’s time to reflect seriously on the state of our schools and open honest conversations about shifts that need to be made immediately, mid-term, and long-term. Jerry and his team felt it was time to think differently. They embraced research on the futures thinking framework to better identify and interpret global signals. These signals are drivers that have an impact on decisions made everywhere in the world.

For example, industries in the U.S. are looking at how to create pathways for AI-certified workforces. Businesses are looking to hire people who are already comfortable interacting with AI. If we shield our students from it or create an environment where a legitimate use of AI is punished, we will fail to graduate students who are attractive to the business world. This is true of positions in tech, manufacturing, food service, and everywhere else in the world. The window is closing for students who have no connection with AI to be employable.

School should be a pathway into a global workforce. Schools must develop scenarios where students have what they will need to be marketable. That means looking five years out from the oldest graduating senior.

Jerry and his leadership team had to completely shift the way they communicated and the way information was shared. They went from a very linear structure to a more circular one where information flowed freely all across the district.

On a purely practical level, schools can enlist the help of AI to find new approaches to some of the issues they face like:

Chronic absenteeism

Poorly performing schools in underserved communities

Better ways to utilize school funds and resources

Declining enrollment

Loss of quality educators

The answer is not to throw more money at the problem when there are fewer students and fewer educators to teach them. That is a losing proposition. Nor can we erroneously believe that knocking on doors and sending mailers will restore the public trust in our school system and send them running back to our classrooms. Unless we are willing to take drastic steps, we will reach a dangerous tipping point that may be tough to come back from. Public education could even become a thing of the past.

Santa Ana Unified School District is nurturing a community of compassionate learners, innovators, and leaders for a better future with qualities that will make them irreplaceable.

Chapter 25
The Future is a Place
We Create

This is the mantra Joe Erpelding led his team with. Skills like analytical thinking, active learning, creativity, critical analysis, and complex problem-solving are in greater demand. Leaders who can create cultures of innovation will be priceless. The skills supported by the traditional school model are declining and in less demand like manual dexterity, memory, management of financial resources, installation and maintenance, and personnel management. However, leaders are not only those with titles. Leaders are defined by their ideas and impact. Educators can serve as leaders in these spaces, exploring the idea that leadership is more about a process than the possession of a set of traits.

Leaders must be ahead of trends, so they can “lead” their students to it. They must evolve from being transactional to transformational. In the education world, educators must be more concerned with the student than assignments completed and grades earned.

First, stakeholders must understand the vision–what is likely to happen, when, and how it must be clarified. When people suffer from ambiguity, their anxiety is at its highest level. The greater the understanding, the lower the anxiety and the more likely adoption will occur. Advocates must prepare to clearly articulate the potential benefits and positive outcomes it can bring to students’ learning experience and the sense of fulfillment it can bring to educators. This understanding will form the foundation of their persuasive efforts.

Next, advocates should build a coalition to support the effort. By identifying like-minded individuals in the school community who already appreciate the value of innovation and creativity in education, a strong group of allies will become the early adopters and supporters who will help spread the message to others.

Persuasion can only happen with effective communication that is open, honest, and safe. We talk of empathy in the classroom and its power to undergird learning. However, empathy is equally powerful outside of the classroom as stakeholders are being persuaded. Some will move fast, and others will be more measured, cautious, or restrained. To convince them, advocates must focus on the vast and far-reaching benefits of design thinking and be willing to show examples, data, and anecdotal evidence. They should emphasize how this approach encourages critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity–essential for success in the rapidly changing world. Real-life success stories and case studies from other schools or industries that have already implemented design thinking can serve as powerful examples to support their arguments.

Enhancing Communication with AI Tools

Along the journey of advocating for design thinking, technology is not an obstacle or an enemy. Instead, it becomes another communication strategy that relies on human elements. For example, when it comes to building relationships and establishing trust, video has a unique advantage over text. Video allows for the conveyance of non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language, which are crucial for emotional connection. Implementing video in communications, whether through updates, instructional content, or direct messages, can create a more personable and engaging interaction, making stakeholders feel more connected and valued. AI tools can significantly enhance how we communicate and lead. Here are some best practices for using AI to support your communication strategy:

Scripting and Batching: Utilize AI tools like ChatGPT to refine your communication scripts. This ensures your messaging is clear, concise, and impactful. By batching the creation of these scripts, you can maintain a consistent message across various communications. Batching is an effective time management strategy that allows you to maximize focus and efficiency. By dedicating specific blocks of time to similar tasks, such as creating scripts or filming videos, you minimize the start-up and slow-down time associated with task switching, leading to more productive and streamlined work sessions.

Utilizing AI for Content Ideas: AI can help brainstorm and develop content that resonates with your audience. This can be especially useful in creating presentations and informational materials that support your advocacy for design thinking.

Interactive AI Tools for Real-Time Feedback: Employ interactive AI-driven tools during presentations and meetings to gather real-time feedback from your audience. This immediate input can help you adjust your strategies and address concerns on the spot, enhancing trust and engagement.

AI-Driven Sentiment Analysis: Use AI tools to monitor the sentiment of your audience towards your initiatives. This can guide you in tailoring your approach to better meet the needs and address the concerns of different stakeholder groups.

By integrating these AI-enhanced strategies into your communication plans, you can more effectively persuade and lead change within your educational environment. Persuasion, when backed by effective and innovative communication tools, not only clarifies the vision but also reduces ambiguity, easing anxiety and paving the way for a smoother adoption of new educational paradigms.

Advocates for change must prepare to clearly articulate the potential benefits and positive outcomes of new educational methods, using real-time data and examples to build a strong coalition of support. Persuasive communication, enhanced by AI, is critical in building trust and motivating stakeholders to embrace and champion innovative educational approaches like design thinking.

Steps for Stakeholders

Change often brings resistance, and introducing a new educational approach is no exception. Opening space and time for people to address concerns and doubts that may arise lowers resistance levels. Some educators might fear an added workload or a departure from traditional methods. Others may worry about their lack of technological prowess. Many educators need to gain the skills to engage students in actively using technology. In one survey, 79% of educators said they would like to have more professional development on leveraging technology for active learning.77

Furthermore, some educators may be concerned about not getting credit if they collaborate with others. They may be uneasy about discipline in a lively and spirited classroom. Parents may worry about their children adapting to a different learning style. Open and honest communication about these concerns and a clear plan to support and guide stakeholders through the transition will be crucial in easing fears.

Another way to make educational change feel more safe and effective is by fostering a culture of collaboration between parents, educators, and educators. When these stakeholders work together, sharing their perspectives, insights, and expertise, they create a supportive environment where everyone’s voices are valued and everyone works toward the same goal. This is preferable to one person, group, or principal mandating a change to design thinking.

By promoting open and respectful communication, this collaborative culture helps build trust and understanding among all involved parties. Parents can contribute knowledge about their child’s needs and aspirations, while educators and educators bring their expertise and understanding of best practices. Together, they can collectively design an environment that fosters opportunities for improvement, co-create solutions, and implement meaningful changes that benefit the learning experience for all students. Emphasizing collaboration cultivates a shared responsibility for education. It ensures that decisions are made with a comprehensive understanding of diverse perspectives, ultimately fostering a safe and inclusive educational growth and development environment.

As we know, actions speak louder than words. School leaders can showcase tangible results by implementing pilot programs or conducting workshops to demonstrate the effectiveness of design thinking in small doses. Educators and parents who witness firsthand the positive impact on students’ engagement and learning outcomes are more likely to become advocates for broader implementation.

Finally, we can’t all see what’s happening across an organization, but we can use technology to break down the barriers. We can create content (that can be shared internally or externally) that builds trust, encourages creativity, and recognizes accomplishments all in service of a shared vision. When we share these daily, it reinforces the above goals. This will require a presence online for ongoing sharing.

Decisions with Data. Not Assumptions.

Traditional models support a top-down approach. Changes are made from some mysterious place and are handed down to schools. Conversely, design thinking allows data-driven decisions to enhance the educational impact. One method is to use self-reported data where educators evaluate motivation and organizational influences in their ability to meet their goals. Focus groups provide similar feedback where educators can be interviewed informally to better understand how they design learning experiences together. When done in the school, educators can demonstrate how they design. That data helps to evaluate motivation, knowledge, organizational assets, experiences, feelings, and opinions on how educators integrated design thinking into the curriculum for their respective grade levels.

Many design-thinking schools invite business leaders, CEOs, and other professionals to their schools. They ask the questions that provide the necessary feedback for educators and stakeholders like:

What kinds of people do you hire?

What skills do they have?

What attitudes and mindsets are most valuable to you?

In many cases, people who hire are looking for creativity, the ability to learn quickly and easily, a positive attitude toward collaboration, effective communication skills, the ability to contribute to the company’s vision and goals, etc. These are the very skills design thinking sharpens and fosters.

Formal data is also useful. This can come from within the school and from outside sources. For example, in 2018, Design39 School was ranked as the highest-performing middle school in the Poway Unified School District, surpassing other schools. The same school won the “Classroom of the Future” award from the Classroom of the Future Foundation of Edmin Inc.78

As design thinking becomes embedded in the school culture, it’s essential to celebrate success and share stories of how it positively impacted students, educators, and the community. These success stories inspire and motivate others to support the approach and may even attract media attention, further bolstering the school’s reputation.

Persuasion is an ongoing process. School leaders must continue to engage with stakeholders, actively listen to their feedback, and adapt the implementation of design thinking based on their input. An open and receptive attitude will create a sense of collaboration and ownership among all involved parties.

As the skills students need continue to change, so must the schools designed to educate them. Design thinking can be used as a tool to empathize with learners’ unique needs, motivations, and goals to design personalized learning experiences. This allows students to enhance their creative and critical thinking skills and reflect on their growth. In a constantly changing world, applying skills such as critical thinking and creativity to new scenarios is critical. Intrinsic motivation allows a student to merge skill and will, moving beyond simply knowing a skill and being able to apply it to choosing to use it in different scenarios.

Introducing design thinking into the education system is a visionary pursuit that can revolutionize learning experiences for students. School leaders, armed with the art of persuasion, can effectively convey the value of this innovative approach to educators, parents, and other stakeholders. Building a coalition of supporters, communicating the benefits, addressing concerns, providing evidence, and nurturing a culture of continuous learning will pave the way for the successful integration of design thinking as a winning strategy in their schools. Embracing change and championing innovation will undoubtedly lead to a brighter and more adaptable future for education.

The students of tomorrow will have to be the entrepreneurs of their professional journey, as they will encounter jobs that did not exist while they were going to school. They will find themselves in situations where they have to create their own opportunities.

Design thinking can prepare them for this whether they are being educated in a traditional context, private school, home school programs, or any other iteration. These concepts are effective for after-school programs and a variety of other informal and non-formal settings.

Afterword
From Comfort to Courage: You Can Do Hard Things

One day my nephew (who was 4 at the time) overheard me telling my sister how stressed I was about an upcoming workshop. I didn’t even realize that he was listening until he came up to me and said, “You can do hard things.”

I was shocked. What could I say?

He repeated, “You can do hard things.”

I thought it was so cute and I asked him, “Who taught you that?”

To which he replied, “My teacher.”

I keep that voice in the back of my head anytime I feel uncertain, stressed, and overwhelmed. Adopting design thinking is truly one of the most exciting choices you can make. I also know how hard it can be to make these types of decisions about your career as you strive to create more alignment between who you are, the work you do, and the impact you hope to have. I’ve been where you are right now–at the intersection of decision and conformity. Every time I had to make a decision that forced me to leave what was comfortable and go toward what sparked my curiosity, my anxiety and fear were quite high.

The one time I felt immense peace with my decision was when I resigned from Apple. To say that this was a comfortable position would be an understatement. The same advice I share with you is the same advice I took myself. It was only after taking the Sparketype and learning that I was energized by being a “Scientist” that I knew this was the right decision, despite not knowing what would come next.

You see the problem was I couldn’t launch the documentary and do this work while at Apple. So I had a choice to make. And every day since I am so grateful I did. I can’t imagine spending all this time researching this topic, gathering incredible footage for a documentary, and then not being here with you today to share, discuss, and design what’s next.

After I resigned in 2021, I spent the year turning my dissertation into a documentary. I have been so lucky to be surrounded by incredible mentors. One of them being Devin Vodicka. If my dad was my mentor growing up, and Bruce was who shaped the early years of my career, I’ll always be grateful to Devin for pushing me to see a bigger picture of possibility. I’ll never forget while at the South by Southwest Conference (SxSW), he asked, “So what’s your launch plan?” And I said, “I’m still deep in editing mode, I don’t have one.”

He said, “Well I have an idea.”

And as they say, the rest is history. Devin is the CEO of the Learner-Centered Collaborative. They hosted the premiere of the documentary, Designing Schools: The Future is a Place We Create in September 2022.

ChatGPT was officially released in November 2022.

Listening in to those moments that signal where our interests lie, and having the right people around us to collaborate with is something that with practice turns from a whisper to a voice so loud it cannot be ignored.

David Brooks calls this, “Your Second Mountain.”79

On the first mountain, we all have to perform certain life tasks: establish an identity, separate from our parents, cultivate our talents, build a secure ego, and try to make a mark in the world. The goals on that first mountain are the normal goals that our culture endorses—to be a success, to be well thought of, to get invited into the right social circles, and to experience personal happiness. It’s all the normal stuff: nice home, nice family, nice vacations, good food, good friends, and so on.

Growing up, so many of us are groomed for the first mountain. Success has already been defined for us. Our social circles have been chosen for us. And happiness has been defined for us. I know it had been for me. From the schools I went to, to the expectation that I would go to college after high school, to the friends I had, everything had been determined for me. This is neither good nor bad. It’s simply an important element to recognize in how decisions unfold to develop a deeper level of self-awareness.

Whether you are on your first mountain or your second mountain, the possibilities for you, and for those in your care are endless in a world with AI.

I believe that practicing your art as a linchpin is the bridge between the first and second mountain. In practicing your art as a linchpin, you draw others toward you. You build relationships through both proximity and with those whom you’ve never met based on shared purpose and passion. Also, you are relentless in the pursuit of addressing the problems and opportunities you see. And your passion acts as a catalyst that ignites others to join the cause.

You don’t climb the second mountain the way you climb the first mountain. You conquer your first mountain. You identify the summit, and you claw your way toward it. You are conquered by your second mountain. You surrender to some summons, and you do everything necessary to answer the call and address the problem or injustice that is in front of you. On the first mountain you tend to be ambitious, strategic, and independent. On the second mountain you tend to be relational, intimate, and relentless.

A few times a week these are the emails that come across my inbox.

While it never becomes easier, it is true what they say:

And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about. -Haruki Murakami

Choose Your Hard

Every time I begin to doubt myself, when I wonder if I am even making a difference, if anyone even reads or listens to anything I share, these emails reignite the spark within me. And no matter how many times I get that feeling, those thoughts never go away. Over time however, our mindset toward how we speak to ourselves and how we continue to persevere does. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this work isn’t easy. Deep, purpose driven, meaningful work, the kind that feels so aligned, will be hard, but it won’t be the kind of hard that I know many of you are used to–the kind of hard that leads to burnout. Both choices are hard. The choice to uphold a system that breaks us increasingly each day is hard. The choice to create something new, something we can’t see but we work towards building is hard. Choose your hard.

Climb Your Own Mountain First

I can’t think of a single endeavor that has consistently helped me grow more than content creation. I always say even if no one else reads, listens, or watches what I create, the amount of learning and self-awareness that takes place is truly the ultimate reward. The younger we are when we begin making this a part of our practice, the better off we’ll be. It’s this creation that helped me become more aligned with my values and the work I wanted to do. I began this work in my 30s, so I can’t imagine how much more self awareness one develops if they are able to do this from a much younger age.

I’ll never forget the moment when I was deciding whether or not to resign from Apple in 2021. I could feel the friction and misalignment. While I enjoyed the work I was doing, I knew there was something more. I just couldn’t quite put it into words. It just happened that that same week Jonathan Fields released his book, “Sparketype.” You’ll remember this, and hopefully paused to take it in Light Your SPARK #9. As I was reading the results, it was as if someone had taken all the thoughts and anxieties inside my head and so perfectly articulated them on a piece of paper, giving me the clarity I needed to not just make a decision but to understand why I needed to make that decision to align with my values, my goals, and my dreams.

Having other people around you see those strengths and remind you of them is a gift not everyone has. I spent a good amount of Covid, while we were working remotely, with my sister who at the time was living in London. She had insight into my job, more so than before. While out to afternoon tea one day she said, “You are capable of so much more. I see the work you do and you are barely scratching the surface of your potential.”

That moment was the catalyst for why I’m even able to write this book for you today.

As I meet different people and as I visit places around the world, I am always reminded of how not enough people have that type of support. Not enough people have others around them to remind them of their potential, their strengths, and what makes them uniquely human in a technology-driven world.

We’re all born with different superpowers. Some of us are great at speaking, some are great at writing, some are great at listening, some are athletic, and some have musical talent. The list goes on and on. But we can’t be great at everything. This, I believe, is the potential of educators to be the ones to shape the future to create a human-centered AI world. These technologies are in their formative stages, guided by those bold enough to dream a vision of what the future might be and taking the steps today to work towards it.

While no AI could ever replace my loved ones, I do wonder how these tools can provide the support and scaffolds people need to take step one toward designing their future. A team that complements those around them to fill in the gaps. Tools that anyone can have access to so that we close the divide and create a future where everyone has access and exposure to learning the skills and mindsets that create a future of shared prosperity.

I don’t know any other group positioned to do this work more than educators. We are the only industry that touches the lives of each and every single young person.

Wishing you the best as you climb your mountain. And reminding you that you are irreplaceable.

Sabba

1 Busteed, B. B. (2020, March 13). The school cliff: Student engagement drops with each school year. Gallup.com. https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/170525/school-cliff-student-engagement-drops-school-year.aspx

2 Report Card: Student perspective on U.S. schools. (n.d.). Walton Family Foundation. https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/gallup-student-report-card

3 https://news.yale.edu/2020/01/30/national-survey-students-feelings-about-high-school-are-mostly-negative

4 https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?subtitle=en

5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEg8cOx7UZk

6 http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/01/24/future-has-arrived/

7 Godin, S. (2010). Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? [Paperback]. Penguin Publishing.

8 Gallup, “U.S. Workers Report Highest Burnout Rate in 2022,” Gallup News, last modified June 14, 2022, https://news.gallup.com/poll/393500/workers-highest-burnout-rate.aspx.

9 Jotkoff, E. (n.d.). NEA survey: Massive staff shortages in schools leading to educator burnout; alarming number of educators indicating they plan to leave profession | NEA. https://www.nea.org/about-nea/media-center/press-releases/nea-survey-massive-staff-shortages-schools-leading-educator-burnout-alarming-number-educators.

10 Teacher Wellbeing Index 2022 (London: Education Support, 2022), https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/media/zoga2r13/teacher-wellbeing-index-2022.pdf.

11 Thomas Watson, “Digital Natives or Digital Tribes?” Universal Journal of Educational Research 1, no. 2 (2013): 104-114, https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2013.010210.

12 Apostolos Koutropoulos, “Digital Natives or Digital Immigrants?” Universal Journal of Educational Research 1, no. 2 (2013): 104-114, https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2013.010210.

13 Marc Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 2: Do They Really Think Differently?” On the Horizon 9, no. 6 (2001): 1–6, https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424843.

14 Stephen Hawking, A Briefer History of Time (New York: Bantam Books, 2005), 59.

15 Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow (New York: Viking Press, 1973), 3.

16 Li, Fei-Fei. The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI. New York: Flatiron Books, 2023.

17 Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books, 2013.

18 Norman, Donald A. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books, 2013

19 Microsoft, 2024 Work Trend Index.

20 Denise Pope and Victor Lee, “What do AI Chatbots Really Mean for Students and Cheating?” Stanford Graduate School of Education, October 31, 2023, https://ed.stanford.edu/news/what-do-ai-chatbots-really-mean-students-and-cheating?print=all

21 Eric A. Hanushek, “Education and Economic Growth,” in Economics of Education, ed. Dominic J. Brewer and Patrick J. McEwan (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2010), 60-67.

22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXLBTBBil2U.

23 Canterbury, L., Druse, J., Jacobs, W., Dickinson, G., Veldheer, K., Omidsalar, T., Segal, J. S., Shen, J., Masunaga, H., Parang, E., Goldberg-Hamblin, S., & Salem, L. (2017b). Book reviews. Education Libraries, 27(1), 30. https://doi.org/10.26443/el.v27i1.199

24 James Clear, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (New York: Avery, 2018).

25 AAPA. (2024, January 9). PA Named #2 Best Health Care Job by U.S. News & World Report. American Association of Physician Associates. https://www.aapa.org/news-central/2024/01/pa-named-2-best-health-care-job-by-u-s-news-world-report-2/#:~:text=U.S.%20News%20%26%20World%20Report%20named,Best%20Jobs%2C%20across%20all%20occupations.

26 LinkedIn. “Global Talent Trends Report.” LinkedIn Talent Solutions, 2023.

27 Wallstreetpit. “From General to Narrow: The Surprising Future of Human Intelligence.” Wall Street Pit, October 7, 2024. https://wallstreetpit.com/119765-from-general-to-narrow-the-surprising-future-of-human-intelligence/.

28 The Great Resistance: Getting employees back to the office. (n.d.). Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/work/great-resistance-getting-employees-back-office

29 Iacurci, G. (2023, February 1). 2022 was the ‘real year of the Great Resignation,’ says economist. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/01/why-2022-was-the-real-year-of-the-great-resignation.html

30 Denning, S. (2015, December 15). Is Montessori the origin of Google and Amazon? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/08/02/is-montessori-the-origin-of-google-amazon/?sh=1cff6b22467a

31 Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008)

32 Kurzweil Exponential Growth Chart shwing in 2023 Machines would be the equivalent of a human brain: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-ray-kurzweils-predictions-related-exponential-growth-zack-tickman-ktric/

33 Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Nearer (New York: Viking, 2023)

34 Jane McGonigal, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things That Seem Impossible Today (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2022)

35 Hornbuckle, M. (2023, January 6). YouScience national survey finds that most high school graduates do not feel prepared for college and career decisions. YouScience. https://www.youscience.com/post-graduation-readiness-report-press-release/

36 Brad Miller, “Moderna Highlights its Digital and AI Strategy and Progress at Second Digital Investor Event,” Moderna, Inc., November 8, 2023, accessed October 28, 2024, https://investors.modernatx.com.

37 Institute for the Future, “Future Work Skills 2020” (Palo Alto, CA: Institute for the Future, 2011), https://www.iftf.org/futureworkskills2020.

38 Alex Cattoni, The Copy Posse, accessed October 2024, https://www.copyposse.com.

39 Jobs for the Future, Career Navigation Memo, June 10, 2024, accessed October 2024, https://www.jff.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/JFF-Career-Navigation-Memo-Final-6.10.24.pdf.

40 Amie Tollefsrud, The Online Course Academy, accessed October 2024, https://www.amietollefsrud.com.

41 https://brandminds.com/the-self-improvement-industry-is-estimated-to-grow-to-13-2-billion-by-2022/

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44 Erik Brynjolfsson, The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014

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46 Devin Vodicka, Learner-Centered Leadership: Creating Schools Where All Students Thrive (San Diego: IMPress, 2017).

47 National Academies of Sciences, Reopening K-12 Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Prioritizing Health, Equity, and Communities (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2020).

48 Gallup, The School Engagement and Wellbeing Survey, accessed November 2, 2024, https://www.gallup.com/home.aspx.

49 California Healthy Kids Survey, 2019-2020: Statewide Results, California Department of Education, accessed November 2, 2024, https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/at/chks.asp.

50 Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt, “Design Thinking for Social Innovation,” Stanford Social Innovation Review 8, no. 1 (2010): 30-35.

51 Duncan Wardle, “Lessons from Disney on Creativity and Innovation,” CoreNet Global Summit, October 2022, accessed October 2024, https://www.corenetglobal.org&#8203;:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}&#8203;:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}.

52 Will design-thinking strategies benefit students after class is. (2019, April 22). Stanford Graduate School of Education. https://ed.stanford.edu/news/will-design-thinking-strategies-benefit-students-after-class-dismissed

53 IDEO, The Seven Mindsets of Design Thinking, 2019, accessed November 2, 2024, https://designthinking.ideo.com/.

54 Microsoft, 2024 Work Trend Index: AI in the Workplace, accessed October 18, 2024, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index.

55 Seth Godin, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams (New York: Penguin Portfolio, 2023).

56 “What Public K-12 Teachers Want Americans to Know About Teaching,” Pew Research Center, April 4, 2024, accessed October 18, 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/what-public-k-12-teachers-want-americans-to-know-about-teaching/.

57 Global Report on Teachers: What you need to know. (2024). Unesco. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/global-report-teachers-what-you-need-know

58 Todd Rose, The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness (New York: HarperOne, 2016).

59 Sarah Fine and Jal Mehta, In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019).

60 Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1957).

61 Syed Manzoor Shah and Shafqat Rasool Rashid, “The Zone of Proximal Development and Cooperative Learning: Socio-Cultural Theory in Action,” International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Culture 3, no. 3 (2017): 10-17.

62 Microsoft, Work Trend Index 2024: AI at Work (Redmond, WA: Microsoft, 2024), accessed October 2024, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab

63 Seymour Papert, The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer (New York: Basic Books, 1993).

64 Julia Rozovsky, “The Five Keys to a Successful Google Team,” re, Google, November 17, 2015, accessed October 2024, https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/five-keys-to-a-successful-google-team/.

65 Hilda Borko and Ralph T. Putnam, “Expanding a Teacher’s Knowledge Base: A Cognitive Psychological Perspective on Professional Development,” in Professional Development in Education: New Paradigms and Practices, ed. Thomas R. Guskey and Michael Huberman (New York: Teachers College Press, 1995), 35–65.

66 Logan Fiorella and Richard E. Mayer, Learning as a Generative Activity: Eight Learning Strategies that Promote Understanding (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013).

67 Jonathan Fields, Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work That Makes You Come Alive (New York: HarperOne, 2021).

68 Robert Rueda, The 3 Dimensions of Improving Student Motivation (New York: Guilford Press, 2011).

69 Daniel H. Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (New York: Riverhead Books, 2009).

70 Kai-Fu Lee, AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018).

71 Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Nearer (New York: Viking, 2023).

72 Joint Base Andrews. (n.d.). Famous last words. https://www.jba.af.mil/News/Commentaries/Display/Article/338046/famous-last-words/#:~:text=%E2%80%93%20%22No%20flying%20machine%20will%20ever,ever%20thinking%2C%20let%20alone%20saying.

73 “The ridiculous fiasco which attended the attempt at aerial navigation...” New York Times, 1903.

74 William Gibson, quoted in The Economist, December 4, 2003.

75 Steve Bartlett, Diary of a CEO (podcast), accessed October 2024.

76 Adam Robinson, “New Gallup Data Finds Only 1 in 4 Employees Believe in Their Company Values: This Strategy Can Change That,” Inc., October 24, 2024. https://www.inc.com/adam-robinson/new-gallup-data-finds-only-1-in-4-employees-believe-in-their-company-values-this-strategy-can-change-that.html.

77 How has technology changed education? (2023, January 17). ASU Online. https://asuonline.asu.edu/newsroom/leading-educators/explore-how-technology-has-changed-education-and-learning-design-careers/

78 Classroom of the Future Foundation honors Poway Unified School District’s Design39 Campus for Innovation | EDMIN. (n.d.). https://www.edmin.com/news/classroom-future-foundation-honors-poway-unified-school-district%E2%80%99s-design39-campus-innovation

79 David Brooks, The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life (New York: Random House, 2019).

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Let’s Keep Growing Together

Learning is a lifelong journey, and at Designing Schools, from education to enterprise, we look forward to supporting you each step of the way.

Thank you for joining me on this journey! If you haven’t yet, be sure to visit our resources page for even more tools to make these ideas part of your daily life. Our extended AI team from Designing Schools is ready to help you go deeper, spark your creativity, and tackle any challenges you encounter.

Remember, all these resources—including our continually updated website and free webinar—are available to support you at every step. Additionally, I deliver keynotes that inspire and equip audiences across different industries, inspiring people with the knowledge and skills to spark their human advantage, making them irreplaceable in a world with AI.

Visit designingschools.org/thebook to take advantage of everything we have to offer, and start transforming ideas into action today. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes you next!

Invite Sabba to inspire and motivate your audience. Book a keynote that helps people unlock their potential and watch them discover how their unique human advantage makes them irreplaceable in an AI world.

Book a workshop to turn ideas into impact. Engage in an interactive, hands-on, customized experience with Sabba where she helps you transform concepts into actionable steps that lead to transformational outcomes for your organization.

Join our AI Bootcamp online course. Your step-by-step guide to totally transforming the way your school and classroom functions, at your own pace. Learn how to build your own AI team and leverage AI technology effectively so it makes sense for YOU (AND save time + energy while doing it).

Be part of our next cohort. Connect, grow, and thrive with a community of changemakers committed to creating lasting impact.

Empower your students to secure their future. Set them up for success by designing opportunities for them that will help bridge the gap between learning and real-world opportunities. Help them spark their unique creativity and ensure their career readiness.

More Praise for Designing Schools

Sabba Quidwai’s book Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in a World with AI is exactly what schools need today. Her focus on the “4 Power Moves” empowers educators to find their human advantage in a world where technology is evolving rapidly. Sabba shows that true innovation starts with empathy—listening to and understanding people’s challenges and aspirations. She highlights the importance of building trust and safety in the classroom, where creativity can flourish, and AI tools can be integrated effectively as part of the team. Educators will walk away from this book with clarity and confidence, knowing their strengths, skills, and unique values are essential to the future of education. This is a must-read for anyone committed to creating a thriving learning environment in the age of AI.

-Jerry Almendarez, Superintendent of Santa Anna Unified School District

Ever feel like education is at a crossroads with AI knocking at our door? Dr. Sabba Quidwai’s Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes YOU Irreplaceable in the Age of AI couldn’t have come at a better time. This isn’t your typical academic read—it’s a journey that redefines what it means to be an educator in our rapidly changing world. It’s the perfect blend of big-picture thinking and practical application. Dr. Quidwai introduces concepts like futures and design thinking, but she doesn’t stop there. With “Light Your SPARK” activities sprinkled throughout, you’re not just reading—you’re actively reshaping your approach to teaching.The “5 Qualities of Irreplaceable Educators” really hit home for me. It’s a refreshing reminder of the unique value we bring to education. And don’t get me started on the idea of creating an “AI team”—it’s a game-changer that shifts our perspective from fearing AI to embracing it as a partner. I firmly believe in using AI to complement us and not compete. In a world where the only constant is change, Designing Schools is like a compass, helping us navigate the future of education with confidence and creativity. It’s not just a book—it’s a call to action, a source of inspiration, and a practical guide all rolled into one. Trust me, your future self (and AI Team) will thank you for picking this one up.

-Matt Karabinos Educator

After reading How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in a World with AI, educators will feel empowered and motivated. Sabba Quidwai has a remarkable way of showing how design thinking can be a game-changer in education, while keeping teachers at the forefront. I appreciate how she presents practical strategies for integrating these ideas into our daily practices. This book helps us see that our creativity and adaptability are crucial in preparing students for the future. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to make a meaningful impact in their classroom and beyond.

-Lisa Moe, 6th Grade Teacher

Dr. Sabba Quidwai’s book is a thoughtful and timely guide for educators navigating an AI-first world. Grounded in the belief that ‘innovation begins with empathy,’ she emphasizes the importance of a human-centered approach through design thinking. By introducing the SHAPE framework and practical ‘power moves,’ Sabba provides educators with actionable strategies to lead with empathy, build trust, and foster creativity. This book is a call to action for schools to step up and actively participate in shaping the future of education. I know the readers will feel motivated and confident after reading it. I love how she talks about empathy as the cornerstone of leadership and its role in creating meaningful change.

-Dr. Susie López-Guerra, California State Director

In How Design Thinking Makes You Irreplaceable in a World with AI, Dr. Sabba Quidwai offers a compelling guide that empowers educators to embrace the future with confidence. She presents AI not as a threat but as a tool that, when combined with design thinking, can unlock endless possibilities in education. Dr. Quidwai’s approach encourages readers to explore “what if?” scenarios, imagining the many futures we can create for our students. Having known Dr. Quidwai for over a decade, I am continually inspired by her ability to make complex ideas accessible and actionable. This book will inspire educators to see themselves as essential architects in shaping the future of education.

-Leighangela Brady, Ed.D., Superintendent National School District,
Author of Transforming Ice Age Schools and Tess Less, Assess More

This book offers a powerful and timely perspective on the role of education in an age of rapid technological change. Sabba shares personal stories, research, philosophical insights, and practical examples to create a clear roadmap for navigating the challenges and opportunities of this new era. The emphasis on design thinking as both a method and a mindset, alongside human qualities of empathy and resilience, will leave readers feeling hopeful and inspired. It’s a book that reminds educators of their critical role in shaping the future and gives them the confidence to lead the way.

-Kacie Nguyen, Technology Integration Specialist

“We are truly educating students for a world that does not currently exist using tools for a world that is long gone.” How does education solve this problem? The design thinking process that Dr. Sabba Quidwai so eloquently presents provides examples from her own experiences alongside insights from other thought leaders. This process, combined with “making AI a part of your team,” is where the magic happens. Designing Schools: How Design Thinking Makes YOU Irreplaceable in the Age of AI is a must-read for leaders, regardless of title, to move education forward and create an environment that prepares students for their future.

-Bobby Applegate Director, Information Technology