I get frustrated when I’m asked to do something irrelevant. Don’t you? And yet, many teachers dread when students ask, “When am I ever going to need to know this stuff?” It’s a rather obnoxious way of asking, “Is this lesson relevant?”

Now, picture this. You craft a lesson that is so relevant that you hope some kid inquires! This episode is designed to help you create such a lesson. To help in this mission is an awesome primary source.

Mitchell Charles

Mitchell Charles is an articulate young man destined for academic brilliance.

In World Civilization, we were meandering through a unit on the Industrial Revolution. This topic typically leaves some students cold. My challenge was to make it relevant. I did this with the help of Elon Musk and Peergrade. Below is the lesson that Mitchell evaluates in this episode. Please feel free to commandeer some of it, or all of it!

Applying the Industrial Revolution via Elon Musk

History students often complain that what they study doesn’t seem relevant. You may have heard the cliche, History repeats itself. You may, or may not be persuaded by this idea, but hopefully you’ll concede that the study of history at least gives us templates through which we can better understand the present. Technological changes that are at work today have the potential of reshaping the world along the lines of the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Studying how that unfolded has the potential to make a young person more adaptable.

Elon Musk is one of the world’s most interesting and perhaps most impactful citizens. Musk is determined to improve the way you live. He also is determined to help the USA win back it’s manufacturing advantage. This man has the potential to create products and systems that are as impactful as anything we’ve studied so far. He was born under the yoke of Apartheid in South Africa and as soon as he was able, he migrated to Canada and then the USA. He’s now a US citizen.

I first became interested in Musk when I saw him appear on the Big Bang Theory many years ago. If you’d like to learn more about this compelling man, read this Rolling Stone article, or this fascinating book.

We’ll focus on 4 of Musk’s objectives:

1. SpaceX
2. Tesla
3. SolarCity
4. The Boring Company

Job 1: Become familiar with your topic by reviewing the links and conducting online research.

Job 2: Meet with other students who’ve been assigned the same focus. Dialogue about the company. You certainly don’t have to agree, but consider the views of your classmates.

Job 3: Individually, Respond to the prompts on the appropriate doc on Google Classroom.

Job 4: Upload your views to Peergrade.

Job 5: Evaluate your peer’s ideas via Peergrade.  

Each student has been assigned a focus. Here are some links, but please don’t limit yourself to only the links I provide.

SpaceX

Start your research by visiting the company website. Then navigate to this objective article. Conduct research on this entity including a video search.

Tesla

Start your research by visiting the company website. Then, navigate to this objective article. Finally, conduct research on this entity including a video search.

SolarCity

Start your research by visiting the company website. Then, navigate to this objective article. Finally, conduct research on this entity including a video search.

The Boring Company

Start your research by visiting the company website. Then, navigate to this objective article. Finally, conduct research on this entity including a video search.

Elon Musk Reaction Prompt

Build your responses based on your research. Each prompt is worth 10 points. Elaborate on your ideas. Don’t just give 1 word, or 1 phrase answers. Compose a narrative for each prompt.

• Pretend that you are Elon Musk. You’re appealing to a number of venture capitalists with the goal of having them invest. Provide your audience with a sales pitch. This has nothing to do whether you…as in you personally, not as in you pretending to be Elon Musk…think the venture will be successful.
• Indicate whether you think this venture is feasible. Don’t just respond yes or no. Explain why, or why not, you think it’ll work.
• The inventions of the Industrial Revolution changed people’s lives in fundamental ways. Do you believe this venture will change lives and if you do, in what way and if you don’t, why not?
• Pretend that you’re in this class and it’s 200 years in the future. Your instructor, who is a remarkably improved version of yours truly, asks you to describe Elon Musk, place him in context, and describe his significance.
• Indicate something that you would like to see invented. This needs to be an innovation that will dramatically improve life on earth. Describe it, explain how it works, and predict how it will improve life.

Episode Template

The Problem:

Students often feel lessons are irrelevant.

The Solution:

Craft lessons where kids are challenged to apply what you’re teaching to their lives.

What you can do Tomorrow:

• Brainstorm real world applications for tomorrow’s lesson
• Break your students into 4 topics or problems and then challenge them to respond to provocative prompts
• Have kids submit their work to Peergrade and then watch a virtual Socratic Seminar unfold before your eyes

Teaching relevance is the responsibility of every educator. Teaching relevance will empower you to embrace the question, “Why do we have to learn this?”

Listen to “94-Usher in Relevance Courtesy of Elon Musk and Peergrade…Starring Mitchell Charles” on Spreaker

I get inspiration for my episodes from odd sources. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to read more. The past few years, I’ve been busy writing my book, so I had zero time to consume words because I was too busy creating narratives. That’s changed and it’s delightful. Currently, I’m reading Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance. This book is about Musk’s incredible vision, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his dogged determination. The book is also about how crucial it is to embracing change. I’ve been inspired by reading it!

Consequently, I needed to bring a change agent on my podcast. Penny Sturtevant is the College and Career Readiness Coordinator for the Big Walnut Local Schools.

Penny Sturtevant

Penny is an expert on prevailing trends in education in regard to career ed and college readiness. We discuss the brave new frontier of K12 and Higher Ed’s evolving relationship. In the title, I utilized the word seamless. Listen to this powerful episode to learn why.

This program does not feature a tactic, a tool, or a lesson to specifically engage kids. Instead, this episode could inspire you to seek out an enrichment path for your students. If you’re successful, I predict you’ll be greatly inspired as well.

Listen to “93-The Evolving Seamless Relationship Between K12 and Higher Ed…Starring Penny Sturtevant” on Spreaker.

I’ll bet you’ve heard your students complain about where they live…the community where you teach them by the way. I did my share of whining when I was a teen. I felt like little New Concord, Ohio was nowhere. And yet, there’s virtually no nowhere anymore! We all live and function in a global economy. If your students don’t believe it, have them conduct a simple inventory of what they’re wearing and carrying. Ask them to record where all of their possessions are manufactured. I’ll bet they’re not lugging around to much Made in the USA.

Unfortunately, some in our nation would like to be isolated. This is a fool’s errand. Students, on the other hand, who embrace the international nature of modern existence will prosper. Teachers, therefore, have an obligation to help students pursue and master this paradigm. To help in this quest, today’s episode will feature the urbane Brad Gosche.

Brad Gosche

Brad is the Vice-President of Education and Communication at the Columbus Council on World Affairs.

@CbusCCWA

Here’s the council’s two-fold mission:

To be the leading nonpartisan, globally-focused organization in the Columbus Region. The Council fosters a community that is well-informed about critical international issues as they affect the world, nation and the local region, and whose citizens utilize this insight to make effective decisions in our global society.

This episode will not only inspire you to include a global perspective in your curriculum, it will also provide two outstanding activities you can employ tomorrow. The first is Geert Hofstede’s country comparison model. The second is taking your kids on a wonderful Trip to Mintana. Please listen to this powerful episode for descriptions of and solid ideas about how to use each.

Episode Template

The Problem:

Students are unaware of the global nature of their existence.

The Solution:

Infuse lesson plans with an international perspective.

What you can do Tomorrow:

• Have students conduct a personal possessions inventory
• Utilize the Geert Hofstede country comparison model
• Take your kids on a Trip to Mintana

Unveil a global perspective to your students and empower them to prosper!

Listen to “92-Flavor Tomorrow’s Lesson with an International Perspective…Courtesy of Brad Gosche and the Columbus Council on World Affairs” on Spreaker.

If you’ve taught a humanities class, you’ve probably recognized how frequently Adolf Hitler comes up. Unfortunately, many kid’s understanding of Hitler and Fascism doesn’t expand much past the Holocaust.

Scott Elliott teaches 9th Grade World History with me.

Scott Elliott scottelliott@bwls.net

Right before Christmas Break, we were yakking about how we could teach Fascism, our first unit in January, in a more engaging and impactful way. Scott found a wonderful resource which formed the backbone of the assignment. The article is by Laurence W. Britt and is entitled Fascism Anyone. The assignment we created challenged kids to rate WWII leaders on the 14 Characteristics Britt articulates and also to apply them to current leaders with authoritarian traits. Here’s a link to the hyperdoc we posted on Google Classroom. Below, are Britt’s list of 14 Fascist Characteristics:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. 
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. 
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism. 
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media. 
7. Obsession with national security. Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together. 
9. Power of corporations protected.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated. 
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment. 
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption. 
14. Fraudulent elections. 

This turned into a solid activity in our World History class, but the lesson can be applied outside of the humanities. Perhaps, there are misunderstandings about important concepts in other subjects. I can certainly think of examples in Science. Challenge kids to apply agreed-upon standards to a set of contentious circumstances.

Episode Template

 The Problem:

Students freely use words like Fascist, Nazi, and Hitler with limited knowledge of these label’s broader meanings.

The Solution:

Expose kids to what Fascism is and then challenge them to apply it.

What you can do Tomorrow:

• If you teach a humanities course and Fascism is a topic, please steal our lesson and morph it to fit your needs.
• If you teach a non-humanities class, take a controversial or misunderstood topic, expose students to some agreed-upon standards and then challenge them to apply that knowledge.

Please inspire your kids to pursue objective truth relentlessly. Assignments such as this will nurture this essential disposition!

A quick program note…I referenced in the podcast Rosa Parks bus protest, but I inadvertently placed it in Birmingham instead of Montgomery where it belongs. Sorry!

Listen to “James Sturtevant Hacking Engagement” on Spreaker.