Sir Ken Robinson and Death Valley: A Review

TED Talks are essentially nerd candy and Sir Ken Robinson, brilliant and innovative educationalist, is our Willy Wonka. 




Sir Robinson delivers an engaging, irreverent, and rather British presentation on "How to Escape Education's Death Valley." Death Valley, of course, is the driest place in America--nothing grows there and everything dies. You don't want to go there, even though that linked site has a pretty heavy pitch for tourism. Sir Robinson's reference to Death Valley is an analogy to the dormancy of our current education system; we need to transform the system and create a culture of possibility rather than muddle through our educational desert.

Sir Robinson begins by skewering No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and explaining that there are three necessities for learning to take place: diversity, curiosity, and creativity. Sir Robinson takes umbrage with NCLB for its assembly line rubber stamp approach toward education. He advocates for a "broad curriculum that celebrates various talents" (Robinson 2013). Students are diverse in their experiences, learning styles, and interests, and how we teach should reflect those differences. We must also stoke students' curiosity and cultivate their desire to learn. Robinson questions why anyone is surprised that kids get fidgety when we "sit them at desks hour after hour with low-grade clerical work" (Robinson 2013). Creativity is the third essential category, for both teachers and students. Teaching, Robinson argues, is a "creative profession" because effective teachers "mentor, stimulate, provoke, and engage"; teaching is about facilitating learning (Robinson 2013). 

Although Sir Robinson doesn't reference technology explicitly in the presentation above, I kept thinking about those types of tools while watching him speak. In this clip, he's more specific about the transformative properties of technology in education, declaring that the tools themselves are changing cultures. It's not much of a leap, then, to think about how Robinson's key traits--diversity, curiosity, and creativity--will come from discerning technology integration.

One of my favorite pastimes involves sitting in a circle with a bunch of smart people and delving into philosophical discussions about how we'll transform education and save the world--but let's not get too carried away in our revolutionary daydreams. I don't write or legislate policy--I've been waiting for them to call me; they've probably just been busy--so at the end of the day we need to work within the framework of our realities. And the reality is that, absolutely, teaching is a creative profession and my job is to facilitate learning and help students uncover their potentials. I also need to meet state standards and testing regulations and all the other things that keep schools funded. 

I get inspired and psyched when I see presentations like Sir Robinson's, but ever practical, I also want to know how to achieve this educational utopia:

Diversity

I loved sitting in college lecture courses. Writing research papers makes me happy. My college friends thought I was nuts. Lots of students don't learn this way, and we need to offer resources for these kids to meet the same Common Core standards. Podcasts, videos, lessons masquerading as games. We have lots of options for varying teaching techniques and embracing the diversity of our students.

Curiosity

It should be obvious, but when students are interested in what they're learning, then that's all the motivation they need. Project-based learning gives students purpose; they're not just doing fill-in-the-blank packets night after night. They work toward a goal, often collaborating, and end up with something real to show for all of their hard work. 

Creativity

Students can make films, write songs, or self-publish books, among myriad other possibilities. When they see their final creations, they not only learn the necessary material, but feel pride in their accomplishments and and could even showcase their talents when applying to colleges.

As curmudgeonly as I may often be when it comes to new technology, I'm really excited about these ideas. A lesson plan for a year-long online newspaper project for an English is fomenting in my head....We'd cover lots of standards regarding writing, style, grammar, editing, etc., and the students could distribute their news site to faculty and parents. These real-life projects also show kids what working in these environments are like, and maybe pique an interest in further study of journalism or other subject areas. 


Robinson, Sir Ken. "How to Escape Education's Death Valley." TED Talk. April 2013.