Tips & Takeaways from "Teaching Boldly"

In the myriad of books I'm reading for my goal to read 52 books this year, one that I read this summer was Teach Boldly: UsingEdTeach For Social Good by Jennifer Williams. It definitely is one that is rising to the top of my list as one of the most poignant reads of both the year and the summer. There are so many things in this book that speak to me...I see the potential  makings of a few posts inspired by this book.

Published by ISTE [International Society for Technology in Education] in 2019, Teach Boldly integrates technology standards for educators and students. The things I love about this book are the reasons I write this blog: 

• it incorporates innovation and the design process;
• the importance of empathy and teaching for social good both in your classroom culture and on a global scale for building multiple perspectives and viewpoints;
• edtech as tools for being creating rather than solely consuming by way of digital storytelling and creating a natural application for digital citizenship.

The irony of this book is that it was published prior to the pandemic, however it talks about innovative teaching styles we used during the pandemic: synchronous, asynchronous, and remote learning. It talks about bias, diversity, perspective, and a sense of belonging, which have become more and more a part of our educational conversation. It embraces choices and creativity as offerings for our students. It discusses the importance of taking action, being change makers who make a positive difference, making an impact through meaningful project based learning, and taking time to reflect. It is through the debriefing that everyone can discover what went well, what was missed, and what were the challenges.

It's a book for our time!

My first recommendation: read the book.

My second recommendation: Check out some of these resources she mentions in her book:

General Online Resources:

• Jen William's Website for Templates & Other Resources
• ISTE Standards for Educators
• ISTE Standards for Students

Frameworks for inspiring lessons and promoting projects for social change:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Adopted on December 10, 1948 to protect the rights of all humans)
• The Sustainable Development Goals (Created in 2015--our 5th graders have done Genius Hour projects based on these the last 3 years.)
• For an educator site with additional resources, go to TeachSDGs.org.
• Global Citizen: Take Action, highlighting defeating poverty, defending the planet, and demanding equity.

Museums focused around social good that are good for a virtual visit:

• National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC
• Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California
• Museum for the United Nations--UN Live in Copenhagen, Denmark

Social Media folks to follow:

• @JenWilliamsEDU
• #TeachBoldly

Book image from https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Boldly-Using-Edtech-Social-ebook-dp-B082FQ3R22/dp/B082FQ3R22/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1629311004; quote from the book and image created from canva.com