TEDx Talk – Education Reimagined: Student-led Learning

Do you feel like our current approach to teaching and learning is working for either teachers or students?

If you answered, “no,” we are on the same page.

This belief is what drove me to develop my TEDx Talk titled “Education Reimagined: Student-Led Learning.”

Right now, we are facing an educational crisis with more teachers leaving the profession than new teachers are entering the field. Since 2017, the gap between job openings and hires has been widening, with the number of educators leaving outpacing those entering the profession. K-12 teachers also report the highest levels of burnout in any U.S. profession. Combine all of this with the data showing that almost seventy-five percent of high school students reported negative feelings about school, and it’s clear we need an education transformation.

If we continue on our present path, we’ll continue to see the same troubling outcomes: teachers working tirelessly without achieving better learning outcomes and students disengaged and uninvested in their education. We need to reimagine our approach to this work—one that is sustainable, rewarding, and re-engages both teachers and learners.

While it would be ideal to reimagine the entire system, that isn’t something most educators have control over, particularly when they are already working beyond their capacity. Instead, we can focus on changing how we work within the existing system—we can focus on what we can control right now. 

In my talk, I propose making essential mindset and skill set shifts along with strategically using technology to empower teachers to design and facilitate learning experiences that place students at the center. This shift alleviates the pressure on teachers to be the sole source of information at the front of the classroom, allowing for a more dynamic, engaging, and equitable learning experience for everyone.

Click the image to watch!

Get Your Interactive Workbook

The educator in me knows that simply watching a video is not enough to actively engage my students—or, in this case, all of YOU! That’s why I tapped into my love of instructional design to create a free interactive workbook that complements my TEDx talk. This workbook is designed to encourage educators to think more deeply about the ideas presented in the talk. I hope individuals, teaching teams, schools, and districts will use this tool to reflect, discuss, and take action. It’s not just about consuming information; it’s about transforming that information into meaningful change through thoughtful engagement and practical application.

How To Use The Interactive Workbook

Once you have your copy of the interactive workbook, decide whether you want to do this as an individual practice or with colleagues (my favorite)!

Step 1: Watch my TEDx Talk: It lays the foundation for the concepts and strategies you’ll explore in this workbook.

Step 2: Engage with Activities: Each section of this workbook includes activities and thought-provoking prompts designed to spark reflection, discussion, and action.

Step 3: Reflect and Discuss: Use the reflection alerts and discussion prompts to engage with your colleagues or professional learning community.

Step 4: Take Action: The ultimate goal of this workbook is to inspire action. Implement the practical strategies, experiment with the ideas, and observe the impact.

I hope this workbook provides you with valuable insights and practical tools to reimagine teaching and
learning in your context. Let’s work together to create an education system that is not only effective
but also sustainable and fulfilling for both teachers and students.

Transcript of My Talk

Picture this: a group of teenagers, their eyes glued to their phones as if those devices were an extension of their very beings. It’s like they’ve been upgraded with bionic attachments that make them superhuman in the digital realm. With a few taps and swipes, they can send messages on Snapchat, share stories on Instagram, and video call their friends on Facetime. They have the power to binge-watch their favorite series on Netflix, order a ride on Uber, and get their meals delivered through DoorDash. They curate personalized playlists on Spotify for every mood and occasion and discover content creators daily on TikTok. 

Are you feeling dizzy yet? 

Watching my two children consume media is totally different from my experience growing up. In my teenage TV-watching days, I had to plant myself on the couch every Thursday at 8 o’clock sharp to watch Friends. Snacks and bathroom breaks were timed with military precision during commercial breaks, and the suspense of waiting months to find out if Ross and Rachel would finally end up together? Torture!  [Pause} By contrast, my children have total control. They decide what to watch, when to watch, how much to watch. Technology has radically changed how young people interact with information, connect with each other, and navigate the world around them.

Given the groundbreaking technological developments taking place in our world, education is at a frustrating standstill. Despite having unprecedented control over their digital experiences, young people find themselves thrown back in time when it comes to school. We’re essentially condemning our future generation to be passive recipients of learning, confined to rigid desks facing a teacher talking at the front of the room for seven hours a day, five days a week. The glaring disconnect between their vibrant lives outside of school and the monotonous days spent in classrooms that operate like network television is a recipe for disaster.  It’s no surprise that nearly three-quarters of high school students report feeling tired, stressed, and bored at school. Combine that with the record number of teachers leaving this profession, and it’s clear the way we are approaching this work isn’t working for teachers or students. 

The educational system, with its behemoth structure, resists change. It’s about as flexible as a brick wall when faced with threats both inside and outside the classroom. Perceived internal threats, like the diversity of skills, abilities, learning preferences, and multilingual students, push the one-size-fits-all lesson to its limits. And external threats like pandemics, AI advancements, or even unpredictable weather have shone a spotlight on the system’s glaring lack of adaptability. It’s time we acknowledge that education needs a transformation that embraces change, addresses the needs of students and teachers, and leaves behind the inflexible instructional practices of the past. 

For 23 years, I’ve dedicated myself to education, wearing multiple hats as a teacher, coach, and professor. I’ve had the privilege of working in schools worldwide, striving to facilitate student-centered learning with technology integration. Throughout my journey, I’ve encountered the same problems: teachers are working too hard not to get better outcomes, and too many students are not engaged or invested in learning.

We can’t change the system overnight, but we can change –right now– how we operate within the system. Think of it as a classroom-by-classroom renovation rather than demolishing the whole educational building.  And to make this happen, both teachers and students need a mindset and skillset upgrade to create a more effective, empowering, equitable educational environments.

In this high-tech era, we have endless digital delights (resources)  at our fingertips—articles, videos, podcasts, and simulations are just a click away. Let’s let technology’s knack for information transfer free us to redirect our focus to what makes us truly extraordinary as teachers. Our ability to observe, listen, respond to their needs, and build strong relationships with our students. This is IMPOSSIBLE to do when we rely exclusively on the whole group, teacher-led model. By teaming up with tech, we can provide the perfect blend of human touch and digital dexterity in the classroom. This creates the time and space for teachers to work directly with small groups and individual students to meet their specific needs. It’s a win-win for us and our students.

To make this transition work, we need to pass the baton of control from teacher to learner. I get it—it’s a scary idea, especially for us type-A control freaks. I mean, who wants to give up power over the curriculum, pacing, and classroom management? But you know what? Life has a funny way of teaching us lessons and making us lean on others. I had to learn this the hard way. 

On a warm night in October 2017, my life changed dramatically. It was 2:30 in the morning when shouts from a megaphone pulled me out of sleep. A police car was driving up my street, blaring a warning: a fire was approaching, and we had to evacuate. In a frantic rush, I scooped up my sleeping children, and we escaped with the clothes on our backs and the shoes on our feet.

The fire destroyed our house; we lost everything. The days that followed were a haze of shock and disbelief. I kept thinking,  “How do I begin to rebuild our shattered lives?”

I’ve never been good at asking for or accepting help, but in the wake of the fire’s destruction, I knew my family couldn’t recover without help. It was time to let my community step in. To my surprise, I discovered that people wanted to contribute to our recovery. Leaning on others for support, we were more resilient as we navigated the aftermath of the fire. Instead of shouldering the burden alone, it was distributed among many.

Teachers also cannot bear the burden of student learning alone. Students need to become self-directed learners – setting goals, assessing their work, monitoring their progress, giving feedback, and regularly communicating with their families about their progress. It’s unrealistic for teachers to handle all of these responsibilities alone. With a classroom full of students, it’s simply not sustainable. It also deprives students of cultivating vital skills that will serve them long after they leave school, making them more resilient and versatile in a rapidly changing world.

Yet, students won’t develop these skills if we do not release control and share the responsibility for learning with them. Being a parent has taught me how important releasing control can be when helping young people develop their skills and confidence. Before having kids, I loved to cook.  I was no Julia Child [laugh], but cooking was my time to unwind and get creative in the kitchen. But then I had kids, and they quite literally sucked the joy of cooking right out of me. My dining room table became a battlefield of picky eaters and relentless critics.  So, as my kids morphed into teenagers, I devised a brilliant plan: I signed up for a meal service and put my teenage chefs-in-training in charge of selecting and cooking one meal each week.

I presented the idea to them like a seasoned hostage negotiator. I expected groans and resistance, but to my surprise, they were intrigued. With the meal service delivering a box of ingredients and foolproof recipes, our kitchen transformed into a culinary classroom.

The morning after my son prepared his first dinner, I received a Snapchat notification. He had posted a photo of the salmon dish he had prepared, captioned with “The first meal I cooked.” His pride was palpable. He wanted to share his accomplishment with his network of friends.  It was a rare mommy moment of triumph.

This experience made me reflect on the classroom. How often do we inadvertently steal these moments of growth and pride from our students? By doing the lion’s share of the work – all of the planning, teaching, reviewing, reflecting, and assessing, we deny our students opportunities to learn, experience accomplishment, and develop confidence in their abilities.

When teachers realize their value isn’t in being the expert but rather in architecting and facilitating student-centered learning experiences, a delightful side effect occurs: students transform from passive observers to active agents. They become thinkers, debaters, tinkerers, problem-solvers, explorers, and collaborators.  Students finally start to perceive themselves as learners and capable partners in this educational escapade. And here is why:  the person doing the work is the person doing the learning.  Like architects, teachers are the masterminds behind the design of learning experiences, but it’s time we trust our students to be the builders * of * meaning.

An architect doesn’t swing a hammer at the construction site; their role is to understand who they’re designing for – what are their needs and preferences? – and draft a blueprint. Similarly, teachers must deeply understand their students –what are their skills and abilities? – and create learning experiences that strive to remove obstacles, provide meaningful choices, and position learners to construct meaning with their own hands and minds.

To enable teachers and students to make these crucial shifts, we need to invite one more group to the table: the school leaders. They possess the unique ability to loosen the tight laces of the suffocating educational corset that stifles teacher creativity, ensnaring them in an endless cycle of content coverage and grading. Leaders must give teachers the green light to reimagine their approach and provide the support needed to cultivate more modern and flexible instructional practices. 

Leaders have the power to liberate students from their roles as silent spectators, mindlessly consuming content. Leaders must also communicate the value of these shifts to students and families, freeing education from the constricting confines created by outdated notions of what teaching and learning look like in action.

The great news is that we can begin this rewarding journey today. 

Teachers can capitalize on their creativity and the technology in their rooms to shift students to the center of the learning experience where they belong! [reimagine how they design and facilitate learning]. And let’s remember that our students are capable of anything with the right support. It’s time to embark on an educational reimagining to ignite curiosity, foster connection, reengage teachers, and cultivate life-long learners excited to enter a world brimming with possibilities. 

I know this doesn’t feel easy. In education, we are often focused on all the problems, but in the words of my favorite children’s book titled, What Do You Do with a Problem?” by Kobi Yamada, quote, “My problem held an opportunity. It was an opportunity for me to learn and grow. To be brave. To do something….Every problem has an opportunity for good. You just have to look for it.”

Thank you.

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