Someone STole My Book Idea

I have an idea for a book.

When I was in high school, everybody told me I should be an engineer.  “You’re good at math,” they’d say, “and engineers do a lot of math, so you should be one.”  When my senior year rolled around, I obliged and applied to Georgia Tech - the nationally-recognized engineering school in town - and they accepted me (like I said, good at math).  Lots of my closest friends were also going there, so everything fell into place.  I could go to an outstanding school, train to be an engineer, and enjoy college with my friends.  Perfect.

Well, almost perfect.

There was just one, small issue.

I didn’t actually know what an engineer was or what they did.

So I didn’t go.

I didn’t become an engineer.

Or did I?

One of the great debates in education is whether teaching is more of an art or more of a science.  Those on the art side would say that the beauty of teaching lies in the creation of just the right intangibles like culture, relationships, and experiences.  Teaching, they would say, takes talent and vision and employing them to constantly create and re-create something wonderful.

Those on the science side would say that there are certain strategies, tactics, and formats that predictably lead to positive learning outcomes.  These tactics can be verified statistically and are proven to be better than less effective ones.  Doing the right activities the right way, they would say, has produced evidence-based benefits for students.

Is it one? Is it the other? Is it a little bit of both?  The question has been considered for thousands of years, and everyone has their thoughts on the matter.

Which side am I on?

Neither.  I think teaching is engineering. I think I became an engineer after all.  I have it all mapped out in my head for a great and compelling read.  A new perspective, easy to explain, and it even comes with an extremely controversial point or two that would grab attention and spark debate.  I’ve never heard anyone else offer that perspective, so BAM, book idea - teaching is engineering.

Well, Peps Mccrea beat me to it.

In September, he released concise and highly practical book called Motivated Teaching that points out how to engineer human attention for better learning.  I can’t say enough about the book.  One Mccrea’s key ideas, which essentially mirrors my own perspective on how teaching is like engineering is this:

"One of the most important implications of [understanding motivation] is that motivation is a specific response to [situations] we face rather than a general character trait of the person we are. 

A pupil who is not motivated to learn math might be highly motivated to play Minecraft.  And even this is likely to change depending on the context they are in and they goals they have at the time.  

This is why it is unhelpful and inaccurate to talk about Pupil X simply being 'motivated or not.'” (pp. 29-30)

  
Instead, he goes on to say, it is more useful to figure out what motivates, when it motivates, and how to engineer situations where students are more likely to be motivated to learn and do what we want them to do.

Teaching is engineering.

Motivated Teaching is a handbook for engineering a classroom that leverages what we know about the human brain and human relationships to focus attention and motivation where it is needed.  I can’t recommend it highly enough.

It was, after all, my idea.

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