Back to the Future...

Wednesday was the official "Back to the Future" day.  In 1989, Robert Zemeckis brought Marty McFly and Doc Brown back to the screen.  Marty visits 2015 on Wednesday, October 21st with Doc Brown and unleashes a series of events that causes him to also return to 1955 to prevent changes in 1985.  Make sense? (If you haven't seen the movies...please see me...we need to block out about 8 hours to sit down and watch all three together.)  We got to take a glimpse on what Hollywood writers thought the future would hold:

There were some things the writers got right about 2015 and some things we are still wishing for.  Like flying cars...when will that happen?  

Unfortunately for Mr. Harming, the prediction of the Cubs winning the World Series in 2015 was not fulfilled.

Think about the things that have changed in education from 1985...what have we done to adapt and change to what has come our way.  Remember...we are educating students for jobs that haven't been created yet.  How many kids saw this movie in 1989 and thought, "I want to create a Hover Board!"  What are you doing to help this generation realize dreams like that?  Again...teach for twenty years...don't teach the same year twenty times...

See the blog post below to get you thinking about what have you changed as the world and the kids around you have changed.

http://kylepace.com/

Bonus video #1 :  Super cool video of Michael J. Fox receiving a pair of self lacing Nikes just like in the movie.

Bonus Video #2:  Marty and Doc on Jimmy Kimmel...with a special appearance by Huey Lewis.  

GREAT SCOTT!  You have been entrusted with the job in preparing students for the future.  What are you doing to ensure they will find success?

Kids These Days...

When I was a freshman in high school, we did the musical "Bye Bye Birdie".  It tells the tale of a rock and roll star going off to the army and the small town girl who wins a kiss with him before he ships out.  The 1960s saw parents coming to grips with the changes in music their children were listening to, as well as vernacular (What a gas!) and clothing.  Here is Paul Lynde singing a sample of the song, "Kids These Days" at the Tonys.  (You can also check out him singing it with Dick Van Dyke in the movie version)

Each generation has a defining moment and defining name:  the Greatest Generation, the Baby Boomers, the Gen Xers, and now the Millennials.  With each generation has come a different outlook on situations, a different style of clothes, a different taste in music, and a different way they learn best.  You hear often of how one generation can't seen to work alongside or under the generation that follows them.  But we can learn so much from each other.  A new movie, "The Intern" pairs Baby Boomer Robert DeNiro with Millennial Anne Hathaway.  It appears what they learn from each other is valuable (and magical).

"CBS Sunday Morning" did a piece last week about how work places are dealing with the latest generation, the Millennials.  We are educating Millennials and even some Millennials' children.  Are we trying to reach them the same way we have reached other generations?  It goes back to that great quote:  "You can teach for 20 years.  Just don't teach the same year 20 times."  You have to adapt and change to meet the needs of the kiddos in your seats.

Here is the link to the story:

Here is the link to the workplace video describe in the piece:

What are you doing to reach the next generation?