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#EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education
Your formula for managing innovation and transforming learning #EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education is a refreshing change from the negativity so common in the world of education today. Over the course of a 3-month solo road trip across the United States, author Grant Lichtman discovered that there is much to be positive about in today's K-12 schools. Lichtman, one of the country's leading experts in educational innovation, interviewed over 600 teachers, administrators, students, parents, and trustees to find out what kind of innovations they're doing right―and how others can leverage their successes. Innovation in education takes hard work, planning, and cooperation. With examples from around the country and findings from the latest education research, #EdJourney maps out how administrators and teachers can embrace the innovation process that schools and learners need now. Today's 21st century education presents unique challenges and opportunities to students, and this is a trailblazing practical guide to making sure education is ready for the future. #EdJourney focuses on four key questions: The concrete examples and advice in this book will help you bring innovation and educational design concepts into your school. #EdJourney goes beyond the theoretical need for change―by now a familiar topic to almost everyone―and takes a real-world approach to achieving transformative education in any school.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
9 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Grant Lichtman
7 books1 followerNationally recognized thought leader in the drive to transform K-12 education, Grant speaks, writes, and works with fellow educators to build capacity and comfort with innovation in response to a rapidly changing world. He works with school and community teams in both public and private schools, helping them to develop their imagination of schools of the future, and their places in that future.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 28, 2020
I don't remember how I obtained a copy of this book, but I have now read it!
The author Grant Lichtman, went on a road trip to different schools with the same question: What does innovation mean to you? The book offers multiple anecdotes from his travels of different schools and what they've implemented to improve education for the students and teachers. Lichtman the road blocks that impede change and shares what some schools have done to resist them and preserver.
One thing that stood out to me was when he visited Presbyterian Day School (PDS) in Memphis and math units were explained to him. Students could take an assessment after spending about three days on the unit. If they passed at a high level could "then spend the next four days in either individiual or group projects to explore math-related topics of their choice in what they call a 'Guided Challenge'." (pg 113) As a teacher of GT students, I find this a beneficial practice and would like to look more into incorporating this into my practice. Finding the time (as mentioned in this text) to plan it is one obstacle I would face.
Another idea that struck me was "'Student EdCon', a three-day, student-centered design thinking conference" (pg 155). "Nine different student teams pitched prototype ideas to our broader community, comprising their parents, our school board, superintendent, teachers, and administrators". This would be such an interesting idea to implement in high schools, and possibly as an 8th grade event in middle schools. Students could present ideas to improve their school or community and present in a conference style.
One last take away from this book was this, "Some schools are stuck in the outdated mode of allowing teachers to attend a conference once a year or less, where teachers sit in a room with hundreds of others and listen to lectures" (pg 254). Summer professional development is pushed heavily, but then come the school year, it seems to be forgotten. Or the professional development that is planned tends to be planned on the Thursday/Friday before a large holiday, making it difficult for teachers to take time off.
Ultimately, it was difficult for me to read through this book. It was interesting hearing about the different schools and how they've innovated their schools. But an important thing to remember that Lichtman notes at the beginning of the book is that change is not hard. Change is uncomfortable.
The author Grant Lichtman, went on a road trip to different schools with the same question: What does innovation mean to you? The book offers multiple anecdotes from his travels of different schools and what they've implemented to improve education for the students and teachers. Lichtman the road blocks that impede change and shares what some schools have done to resist them and preserver.
One thing that stood out to me was when he visited Presbyterian Day School (PDS) in Memphis and math units were explained to him. Students could take an assessment after spending about three days on the unit. If they passed at a high level could "then spend the next four days in either individiual or group projects to explore math-related topics of their choice in what they call a 'Guided Challenge'." (pg 113) As a teacher of GT students, I find this a beneficial practice and would like to look more into incorporating this into my practice. Finding the time (as mentioned in this text) to plan it is one obstacle I would face.
Another idea that struck me was "'Student EdCon', a three-day, student-centered design thinking conference" (pg 155). "Nine different student teams pitched prototype ideas to our broader community, comprising their parents, our school board, superintendent, teachers, and administrators". This would be such an interesting idea to implement in high schools, and possibly as an 8th grade event in middle schools. Students could present ideas to improve their school or community and present in a conference style.
One last take away from this book was this, "Some schools are stuck in the outdated mode of allowing teachers to attend a conference once a year or less, where teachers sit in a room with hundreds of others and listen to lectures" (pg 254). Summer professional development is pushed heavily, but then come the school year, it seems to be forgotten. Or the professional development that is planned tends to be planned on the Thursday/Friday before a large holiday, making it difficult for teachers to take time off.
Ultimately, it was difficult for me to read through this book. It was interesting hearing about the different schools and how they've innovated their schools. But an important thing to remember that Lichtman notes at the beginning of the book is that change is not hard. Change is uncomfortable.
December 31, 2018
“Everything we know about the history of successful innovation screams that we must move from theory to action: imagining, designing, testing, piloting, failing, tweaking. And we have to do this in shorter time frames and on a more continuous basis than schools are used to or comfortable with. The process of planning every few years is flawed. Innovation is an ongoing process; it needs to become deeply embedded in our everyday DNA, and at multiple levels of institutional organization.”
Yes, yes, yes!
Book was a bit overloaded with the “ then I went to this school” examples, but the main idea is sound and what we need in successful schools today.
Yes, yes, yes!
Book was a bit overloaded with the “ then I went to this school” examples, but the main idea is sound and what we need in successful schools today.
June 27, 2018
I found the book dry. It seemed more like a man who was driving across the country, talking to random people, than it did a treatise on education reform.
I must admit, I stopped reading about 1/4 of the way through.
I must admit, I stopped reading about 1/4 of the way through.
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April 30, 2019Early in Grant Lichtman’s #EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education, the author offers a question that implies the motivation the fueled the book. The question below resonated with me, as it is a question I have long pondered, even as far back as my own middle days. “What if we were starting a school from scratch, with no preconditions other than creating the best possible learning environment for students?” (Lichtman, 2014, p. 10). Sufficed to say, there are very, very few people would answer “We wouldn’t change anything; our current school system is perfect.” If that were the case, obviously we wouldn’t need a book such as Lichtman’s, where he essentially took a roadtrip across the country, visiting school after school, and collecting ideas for invigorating innovations for our educational system.
When our current Common Core Standards were first introduced, they were delivered with the premise that schools were failing to adequately prepare students for the real world, for business and industry, for a changing world that required more communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. During Lichtman’s research process, he asked various groups of high school seniors to list the qualities that, in theory, should be found within a successful graduate ready to enter the real world. Naturally, the list of most common and most powerful terms are attributes that cannot directly be tested on a standardized test.
“[Students most commonly listed:] Persistence; confidence; resilience; patience; openness; creativity; adaptability; courage; perspective; empathy; and self-control.” (Lichtman, 2014, p. 104-105).
As I read that list, I initially felt a bit of educator guilt. Let me first explain by describing what I teach at my central California high school: college prep English for sophomores, English Language Development, multimedia production, and creative writing. Let me further explain that the guilt I felt that, when I considered the student-created list of attributes, I do not believe my first two classes (English 2 and ELD) really produce. However, I felt better when I realized that those two classes are traditional, both in terms of curriculum and delivery (in fact, they are essentially scripted formats that I must deliver). However, in my multimedia and creative writing classes, I can find each and every one of those attributes embedded.
This left me beaming, especially when considering a later quote from Lichtman based on his research. “Of the many skills we recognize as critical to the future success of students in an increasingly competitive world, creativity is the one that is most difficult to outsource, to send offshore, to replace by less expensive competition that threatens to overwhelm us.” (Lichtman, 2014, p. 148). At my school, both the multimedia and creative writing courses are relatively new (both less than five years old). As a result, they were developed and designed with input from modern-day innovations and fact-based research in education. They intentionally do not adhere to traditional models.
Lichtman’s book found, in a plethora of anecdotes and testimonials, current education is succeeding most when distancing from the assembly-line approach first implemented generations ago. It is no surprise that Lichtman found that creativity and ingenuity in educational reform is usually followed by -- brace for it -- students actually enjoying their own educational journies and feeling prepared for what lies beyond. “Everything we know about the history of successful innovation screams that we must move from theory to action: imagining, designing, testing, piloting, failing, tweaking.” (Lichtman, 2014, p. 232). In short, everything from daily schedules to the definition of “classroom” is being reconsidered at public and private schools across the country. Those who develop new formats and school cultures are finding real-world success for their students by breaking from both the conventional and the traditional.
When our current Common Core Standards were first introduced, they were delivered with the premise that schools were failing to adequately prepare students for the real world, for business and industry, for a changing world that required more communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. During Lichtman’s research process, he asked various groups of high school seniors to list the qualities that, in theory, should be found within a successful graduate ready to enter the real world. Naturally, the list of most common and most powerful terms are attributes that cannot directly be tested on a standardized test.
“[Students most commonly listed:] Persistence; confidence; resilience; patience; openness; creativity; adaptability; courage; perspective; empathy; and self-control.” (Lichtman, 2014, p. 104-105).
As I read that list, I initially felt a bit of educator guilt. Let me first explain by describing what I teach at my central California high school: college prep English for sophomores, English Language Development, multimedia production, and creative writing. Let me further explain that the guilt I felt that, when I considered the student-created list of attributes, I do not believe my first two classes (English 2 and ELD) really produce. However, I felt better when I realized that those two classes are traditional, both in terms of curriculum and delivery (in fact, they are essentially scripted formats that I must deliver). However, in my multimedia and creative writing classes, I can find each and every one of those attributes embedded.
This left me beaming, especially when considering a later quote from Lichtman based on his research. “Of the many skills we recognize as critical to the future success of students in an increasingly competitive world, creativity is the one that is most difficult to outsource, to send offshore, to replace by less expensive competition that threatens to overwhelm us.” (Lichtman, 2014, p. 148). At my school, both the multimedia and creative writing courses are relatively new (both less than five years old). As a result, they were developed and designed with input from modern-day innovations and fact-based research in education. They intentionally do not adhere to traditional models.
Lichtman’s book found, in a plethora of anecdotes and testimonials, current education is succeeding most when distancing from the assembly-line approach first implemented generations ago. It is no surprise that Lichtman found that creativity and ingenuity in educational reform is usually followed by -- brace for it -- students actually enjoying their own educational journies and feeling prepared for what lies beyond. “Everything we know about the history of successful innovation screams that we must move from theory to action: imagining, designing, testing, piloting, failing, tweaking.” (Lichtman, 2014, p. 232). In short, everything from daily schedules to the definition of “classroom” is being reconsidered at public and private schools across the country. Those who develop new formats and school cultures are finding real-world success for their students by breaking from both the conventional and the traditional.
July 15, 2016
Thought provoking book on educational change based on the author's three month driving trip across the US visiting schools and asking "What does innovation mean to you?" The stories of what is happening in these schools are interesting and provide a necessary backdrop for some bigger thinking. The true value in the book is in the bigger ideas that Lichtman pulls from the trip and the observations and perhaps even advice that he provides in Part Three of the book. Well worth spending the time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews