Challenge 

 The challenge I have taken on definitely meets the criteria for design thinking because it surely 

 qualifies as a “ wicked ” problem .   I am a middle school teacher in a title 1 school . ( Schools having more   than 40 % of its student population coming from families functioning under the poverty line ) The   challenge I face every day is to help motivate these students to improve their personal chances of   escaping the fixed environment they are now part of . 

 Most of my students come from single parent households , primarily the mother . Often these 

 households have no working parent and are supported by federal subsidies .   My students come from   impoverished neighborhoods where positive role models have worked their way out of and are seldom   to return .   The role models they do aspire to are not accessible .    Many of these students cling to the   dream that their only route to success is through athletic prowess or some other aspect of the   entertainment industry . 

 To work hard in school because that is the route out , is not viable to them . It may not have 

 worked for anyone they have close contact with .   It is here that my challenge arises from .   I must often   be the one that instills the realization and hope that it is through education we are given the keys to   success . 

 I came to the realization after participating in the design thinking class that not only would this 

 process be useful to my challenge , design thinking could also be extremely useful for the education   system as a whole .   I would love to attack the greater challenge of improving the function of education   itself at a district , state , or federal level but in the interest of this exercise I will execute it within my own   school . 

 Selection 

 The design thinking tool I utilized is story telling . This is not a new tool for me ; as teachers we 

 often rely on a story to make connections with our students . The fact that I now have a tool box it   belongs in … is novel .    I am in a situation where my class is often seen as a throw away class . It is   commonly referred to as an elective .   I teach technology to 6th,7th and 8th graders .   Since it is regarded as   an elective along with P.E. Music , Art , Home Economics , and Foreign Language , it is not a class that   counts towards student promotion . ( it is not required that they pass this class to move on as it is with   History , Math , English , and Science ) The Challenge comes in the form of giving this class a distinction of   importance to my clients ( students , parents , administrators ) By telling the right story I will hopefully be   providing students with the motivation to excel , and convincing parents and administrators as to the   “ larger purpose ” of an elective class .   As Fernando Johnson from Mars Inc. said “ Story telling makes a   strategy simple and relatable , it gives it color , life , character and plot . ” He also explains that the purpose   of a story is to “ create a cause . ”   I can think of no greater cause than motivating children to take   ownership of their education and learn . 

 Application 

 The story I use came to me happenstance but it works perfectly for my situation . As I said many 

 of my students see athletics as their way out of poverty . It was through an athletic circumstance that I   was provided with my story .   This will be the hook for my audience . 

 I was accompanying my son to a lacrosse tournament . As parents do I was making small talk 

 with one of the other parents on the sidelines . The question eventually came around to what I did for a   living , I mentioned I was a teacher .   Invariably he asked what it was that I taught .   I am proud of what I   do and can talk at length about it , as most people can about things they are passionate .   I told him that I   taught technology and this peaked his interest because he owned a company that manufactured signs .   I   started to explain some of the things that go on in a technology classroom .   We do a lot of designing ( the   reason this class caught my eye ) and getting a design on paper is paramount .   I also vented my   frustrations with students not wanting to put the time into the planning/ drawing stage .   They want it   done now . They think it should be able to go from mind to product , nothing in between . He asked what   kind of drawing we were doing , and I explained we used a product called Google sketch up . His eyes got   big and he became very interested at that moment . 

 “ Really ? ” he said . “ do they get it ? ” 

 My response was yes they get it ; it is very similar to Minecraft a program they are very adept at 

 which is also my greatest hurdle to teaching sketch - up .   The students are so into the gaming aspect of   Minecraft that they do not have the patience for a program that does basically the same thing but is   only a design tool . 

 “ That ’s a shame ” he said , ” If I found students right out of high school that were able to use 

 sketch - up as a design tool , I would have a well - paying job available for them that very day . ” 

 Really ? I can show you someone who gets it , but he can only work summers for the next three 

 years ! 

 Insight / Approach 

 Even though I use this story to motivate my students , it is the parents and administrators that 

 really latch on to it .   We all have stories that connect with the personal element of education . So here   lies the potential in using design thinking to better our education system as a whole . The cause is there !   The process needs improvement ! 

 We continue to use this data driven assembly line approach to this “ wicked ” problem of making 

 the education system developed at the turn of the century work for today ’s children .   Everyday teachers   are using learning launches in their individual classroom to try and spice up the cookie cutter curriculum .   Bring the learning launch out of the classroom and use it district wide , state wide , nationwide .   Our   students are every bit as important as a personal healthcare kit or process to sell financial products . No   wonder our priorities have run amuck . We fail to use the powerful tools we develop on our most   precious investment . 

 Fernando Johnson 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Fernando Johnson
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge 

 The challenge I have taken on definitely meets the criteria for design thinking because it surely 

 qualifies as a “ wicked ” problem .   I am a middle school teacher in a title 1 school . ( Schools having more   than 40 % of its student population coming from families functioning under the poverty line ) The   challenge I face every day is to help motivate these students to improve their personal chances of   escaping the fixed environment they are now part of . 

 Most of my students come from single parent households , primarily the mother . Often these 

 households have no working parent and are supported by federal subsidies .   My students come from   impoverished neighborhoods where positive role models have worked their way out of and are seldom   to return .   The role models they do aspire to are not accessible .    Many of these students cling to the   dream that their only route to success is through athletic prowess or some other aspect of the   entertainment industry . 

 To work hard in school because that is the route out , is not viable to them . It may not have 

 worked for anyone they have close contact with .   It is here that my challenge arises from .   I must often   be the one that instills the realization and hope that it is through education we are given the keys to   success . 

 I came to the realization after participating in the design thinking class that not only would this 

 process be useful to my challenge , design thinking could also be extremely useful for the education   system as a whole .   I would love to attack the greater challenge of improving the function of education   itself at a district , state , or federal level but in the interest of this exercise I will execute it within my own   school . 

 Selection 

 The design thinking tool I utilized is story telling . This is not a new tool for me ; as teachers we 

 often rely on a story to make connections with our students . The fact that I now have a tool box it   belongs in … is novel .    I am in a situation where my class is often seen as a throw away class . It is   commonly referred to as an elective .   I teach technology to 6th,7th and 8th graders .   Since it is regarded as   an elective along with P.E. Music , Art , Home Economics , and Foreign Language , it is not a class that   counts towards student promotion . ( it is not required that they pass this class to move on as it is with   History , Math , English , and Science ) The Challenge comes in the form of giving this class a distinction of   importance to my clients ( students , parents , administrators ) By telling the right story I will hopefully be   providing students with the motivation to excel , and convincing parents and administrators as to the   “ larger purpose ” of an elective class .   As Fernando Johnson from Mars Inc. said “ Story telling makes a   strategy simple and relatable , it gives it color , life , character and plot . ” He also explains that the purpose   of a story is to “ create a cause . ”   I can think of no greater cause than motivating children to take   ownership of their education and learn . 

 Application 

 The story I use came to me happenstance but it works perfectly for my situation . As I said many 

 of my students see athletics as their way out of poverty . It was through an athletic circumstance that I   was provided with my story .   This will be the hook for my audience . 

 I was accompanying my son to a lacrosse tournament . As parents do I was making small talk 

 with one of the other parents on the sidelines . The question eventually came around to what I did for a   living , I mentioned I was a teacher .   Invariably he asked what it was that I taught .   I am proud of what I   do and can talk at length about it , as most people can about things they are passionate .   I told him that I   taught technology and this peaked his interest because he owned a company that manufactured signs .   I   started to explain some of the things that go on in a technology classroom .   We do a lot of designing ( the   reason this class caught my eye ) and getting a design on paper is paramount .   I also vented my   frustrations with students not wanting to put the time into the planning/ drawing stage .   They want it   done now . They think it should be able to go from mind to product , nothing in between . He asked what   kind of drawing we were doing , and I explained we used a product called Google sketch up . His eyes got   big and he became very interested at that moment . 

 “ Really ? ” he said . “ do they get it ? ” 

 My response was yes they get it ; it is very similar to Minecraft a program they are very adept at 

 which is also my greatest hurdle to teaching sketch - up .   The students are so into the gaming aspect of   Minecraft that they do not have the patience for a program that does basically the same thing but is   only a design tool . 

 “ That ’s a shame ” he said , ” If I found students right out of high school that were able to use 

 sketch - up as a design tool , I would have a well - paying job available for them that very day . ” 

 Really ? I can show you someone who gets it , but he can only work summers for the next three 

 years ! 

 Insight / Approach 

 Even though I use this story to motivate my students , it is the parents and administrators that 

 really latch on to it .   We all have stories that connect with the personal element of education . So here   lies the potential in using design thinking to better our education system as a whole . The cause is there !   The process needs improvement ! 

 We continue to use this data driven assembly line approach to this “ wicked ” problem of making 

 the education system developed at the turn of the century work for today ’s children .   Everyday teachers   are using learning launches in their individual classroom to try and spice up the cookie cutter curriculum .   Bring the learning launch out of the classroom and use it district wide , state wide , nationwide .   Our   students are every bit as important as a personal healthcare kit or process to sell financial products . No   wonder our priorities have run amuck . We fail to use the powerful tools we develop on our most   precious investment . 

 Fernando Johnson
### Output: 