One idea I came up with after reading his thread, was the idea of having students begin to study real-world, current innovators. We often have students study famous people from history and some renown people from today's world (Bill Gates is usually among the list studied), but we don't reach out further to the many people all over the world who are investing time and energy in really wonderful new-age investigations, inventions, and ideas. Gates' thread presents many people from all over the world representing multiple cultures, the same cultures that many of our students represent.
So, with that in mind, I'm going to begin a list of articles about these people. I imagine we might be able to use this research with students in a number of ways in the year ahead:
Gates' thread also presents a number of great problems to solve. I'm always talking to students about the fact that one reason that it's important to learn well is so that they are ready to solve the countless problems that exist and will exist in their world. Here are two problems that Gates posted recently:
While it's great to sit down and read a whole biography or autobiography, reading someone's Twitter thread gives you a first-hand view of what they are doing and are interested in right now. It's a quick way to gain inspiration, new ideas, and connections. It's a modern way of broadening your view so that you have more to bring back to and forward with and for your students. I recommend.
