Going Forward

After reading the book, I am not sure if I am totally convinced that a third party candidate would solve the problems that we are facing. The book does present a lot of interesting information and ideas about how our country has fallen behind and how it is imperative that we make changes in order to "come back". However, when I reached the end of the book, I was not sure if all (or any) of these issues could be fixed by supporting a third party candidate. It appears that as a country, we have a lot of work ahead of us, and maybe there is not going to be just one simple fix. Although I finish the book without an idea of how our country can be changed for the better overall, I do feel that I have a better sense of what I can do as a teacher to make some little changes happen on a small scale. For me, I plan to approach the new year with the idea that "average is over" and encourage more collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking in my classroom. Setting higher expectations and encouraging a different way of thinking may be a minor change, but I hope it can have a positive impact on my students.