What if school was about flourishing?

What if school was about developing human flourishing? What would it look like? How would it be different? In what ways might it be the same? How would we use and develop and deliver content? What would the role of assessment be?

I wonder, if this was indeed the purpose of school, if anything would remain the same. School, as it is right now, isn’t really about flourishing, it’s about content delivery. Is this an inherently bad thing? No, not really. But I think it could be about so much more. And how much more is something that I don’t know that we’ve really discovered yet.

But to teach this way requires a mindshift in purpose. It starts in the way we describe what we do. Do we teach content, or do we teach humans? Am I a math teacher, or am I a teacher who uses math to help develop the lives of my grade 9 students? It a small thing, perhaps, but I think reframing how we think about what we do is the first step to breaking away from the old purpose and reimagining a new one.

It’s scary work, do not be fooled. And putting that work out into to world is even scarier. Innovation requires bravery. It requires strength. Change always does. This mindset is at odds with much of the education world. Much of the education world wants school to be about achievement. But I believe that it could be about so. much. more.

What steps will you take today to reimagine what we do? How will you use content in a way that helps your students flourish as human beings? How will you use feedback to help them grow? How will you join them on their journey? This is what I ask myself each morning. Ask yourself these questions and see where they take you.