….But what if they do lose a few points on the achievement tests currently in use in education… None of those tests predict with enough confidence much about the future life those kids will live. That is because it is not just the grades that kids get in school, nor their scores on tests of school knowledge, that predict success in college and in life. Soft skills, which develop as well during their hiatus from school as they do when they are in school, are excellent predictors of a child’s future success in life.

Students today are digital natives who need to develop the 4 Cs—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Comics are perfectly situated for use in developing these competencies, and they work across grade levels—a single story may have the capacity to speak to both elementary and secondary school students.

Stop assessing everything: By everything, I mean every single content standard. In order to make a “guaranteed and viable curriculum,” we need to make strategic decisions about what is “need to know” and what is “nice to know.”

This is an idea we should apply in both in-person and online learning. However, with online learning, this is a further call to distil our curriculum to essential learning and target specific standards and outcomes.

Timetables are the worst. Why still have them?

Is structure a help or a hinder?

By 2020, instead of classes in physics, math, literature, history or geography, Finland is going to introduce a different approach to life through education. Welcome to the phenomenon based learning!