CTRL C + CTRL V: One More Time

Watching Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix, reminded me that – like music, art, and literature – education is a remix. Every lesson taught, curriculum designed, and assessment graded combines past knowledge and pedagogies. For better or worse, I never teach in isolation; my methods are an open dialogue between past, present, and future influences.

As Ferguson outlines in Part 3 of his series, creativity is built on three tools: Copying, transforming, and combining. Likewise, these tools are the core of teaching and learning.

• First, we copy. How often have I attempted to emulate the teachers who led me down this career path, borrowing their techniques and well-worn strategies? Always following the standardized SK curriculum, even when it shifts beneath my feet (hello, “new” math).
• Then, we transform. Over almost two decades, I’ve adapted lessons to meet the changing needs of my students and refined my techniques to find my style (whoever said sarcasm is the lowest form of wit?).
• Finally, we combine. I’ve lasted long enough as a teacher to merge instruction styles from various sources, discovering inspiration through research, professional development, the day-to-day grind, and my students’ needs. The hope goal is to create something – lessons and classroom milieu – that’s meaningful in the totality of my career.

Teacher Mixed Tape: “Don’t Reinvent the Wheel”

Like the rappers of bygone (and current) eras, teachers never create alone. Anyone who’s taken an Ed. Foundations or Theory course can tell you that every lesson, assessment, and pedagogical approach has been constructed from borrowed and adapted knowledge:

• Curriculum Design: Drawing on traditional Indigenous knowledge systems and Dewey’s theories, I adapt mandated curricula to fit the context of my class, emphasizing experiential, student-centred learning. The majority of my lessons focus on diverse perspectives, inspired by bell hooks, who – in turn –  was inspired by Freire (add another track to the remixed tape).
• Pedagogy: Hands-on, collaborative, and inquiry-based learning methods are essential to my practice, copied theories and methods from Montessori, Vygotsky, and Piaget. Special mention to dear Mrs. Blais (my saintly elementary teacher) who never gave up on teaching me to read. Thank you!
• Assessment: From rigid one-size-fits-all tests to a holistic call for student choice, all our assessments are regurgitated remixes. Bloom built us a taxonomy and Thorndike the standardized test (boo!); Vygotsky zoned Proximal Development and Dweck supported self-assessment and feedback-driven learning. How we assess is old news.

How often have we been told not to “reinvent the wheel” when we teach? And even when we think we’re original or groundbreaking, our teaching is a combination of those we admire and a rejection of those we find ineffective. Good teaching is about copying, refining, and building on what already exists.

But, as Ferguson points out, copying is complicated…

Remix Inspiration or Copyright Infringement?

Despite the fact that education is literally built on shared knowledge, copying is often stigmatized as inherently “bad.” It’s a slippery slope; creative inspiration can quickly slide into the forbidden word – plagiarism! But my best teaching ideas are those I’ve remixed, refined, and retried. Richard Dawkins’ concept of memes as “imitated things” serves as a reminder that knowledge can easily spread through copying, mutation, and competition. So why do we constantly castigate our students for getting caught in this cycle as well?

In class, our students are told to be original…but originality often comes after copying, transforming, and combining. We call foundational skills “the basics” because students must master them before personal meaning can be built. As far as I know, creativity doesn’t spark from a void; it’s how we understand and transform the world we see or wish to see. Rather than discourage students from remixing, we should teach them how to do it well: Cite your sources and transform with intention. In the end, we should encourage them to create something new from the same ol’ same of our human existence. Only the cave painters were true originals, and even that is up for debate.

AI Remix: Our Teaching Forecast

Whether you’ve been a resistor or early adopter, the truth remains that AI has changed what we understand about remixing…and teaching. Last second lesson plans and rubrics, as well as fun creative projects, can quickly be pumped out by the likes of Magicschool AI. However, as Ferguson points out, AI lacks one key building block of human creativity: EXPERIENCE!

• With Feeling: AI can never love our students when they come to school unfed and unhugged. It will never grieve with them when they suffer a loss or celebrate when they succeed beyond our highest hopes.
• Connection is Key: AI cannot laugh at that shared inside joke about the classroom ghost or stay to chat with students looong after the bell has rung.
• Just a Tool: AI is a tool, but teaching is a human endeavour. At its heart, great teaching is relational, adaptive, and deeply personal.

Ferguson suggests AI might not be as advanced as we fear, but it is coming for everyone’s jobs. I remain unfazed. While education is a remix, it’s a compilation that will always require a human hand. Teachers cannot be replaced because teaching is about connection rather than just information.

Conclusion: One More Time

When we create, we often feel alone. Didn’t I just lament this isolation in my learning project blog? What I am learning, though – what we as humans must all learn – is that we exist and create in community. Teaching is a collective act between teachers, colleagues, students, and environments, in an ongoing remix of generational knowledge.

We never work from scratch. We borrow, adapt, transform, and merge ideas to make meaning of our human existence. The future is uncertain, but I at least know that much.

POINTS TO PONDER

As always, thank you for reading. Please feel free to respond to one/all the reflection questions below, or leave your own feedback and insights.

1. In what ways have you copied, transformed, and combined teaching methods throughout your career? Can you identify specific influences (positive and/or negative) that have shaped your educational approach?
2. How do you navigate the tension between encouraging students to remix and build on existing knowledge, while teaching them academic integrity/originality?
3. What strategies, practices, and resources do you use to combine a relational approach with relevant technological tools (like AI)?