Précis

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." - George S. Patton

Society's demand for accountability has spawned a generation whose educational ethic tends to range from "How much do you want me to write?" to "What's the right answer?". As educational leaders, it's our responsibility to force our students out of the mental nest and give them the tools to fly on their own.

In construction, there is a blueprint. The materials need to be assembled beforehand and the workers need to have the appropriate skills to complete the build. Not unlike a supervising foreman, the instructor needs to make sure that their lessons are designed to cover all the same bases. Assignments which are created haphazardly or in isolation run the risk of being irrelevant time-fillers; the architecture of an educational unit needs to be well thought out and planned, with a clear goal at the end. It needs to address multi-modal ways of learning and give options for an end product that the student can successfully deliver.

While a building's architecture generally remains unchanged once the project is completed, a lesson's architecture can only improve with feedback, review and revision. I routinely survey my students in all the courses I've taught and still teach (French, English, Computer Applications, Journalism, Media, Tech Coach) to solicit ideas for improving my instruction and future students' educational experience.