The Playbook is out!
The Futures Thinking Playbook is now published and is available both for online review and to purchase hardcopy. At the moment the Playbook is being reviewed by a European company that does summer camps for English language learners, and we are also in talks with a colleague in Taiwan who intends to translate the book into Mandarin. If you want to help translate The Playbook in your language, please contact us.
Join our online sharing groups
We recently created two new online groups. One for educators and one for advocators of teaching the future in classrooms worldwide. In the Foresight Educators group teachers can exchange stories plus tips & tricks on how to integrate futures thinking in the classroom. This group is aimed at teachers who have been or are currently teaching foresight in primary, secondary and college classes. We already have welcomed over 60 members in this group from all over the world. Are you an educator and do you want to join? Contact us right away! In the Teach the Future Global group advocators who are working to introduce futures thinking in association with Teach the Future in their respective countries can share experiences. For instance on topics like how to start a local TTF hub and how to activate educators in your country. We already have advocators from 16 different countries on board. Are you enthusiastic about the TTF mission and want to start or join a TTF hub in your country? Email us to join the advocates group!
Teacher workshop and summer camp
Teach the Future community member Dr. Lue Bishop led a workshop of 30 teachers in the Herbst, Euless, Bedford (HEB) ISD outside Fort Worth, Texas in June. The workshop was devoted to futures tools that teachers could use to introduce higher order thinking in their class. It included an introduction to futures thinking and tools such as systems thinking, critical thinking, change analysis and futures wheels.
Earlier that month, Eduardo Alva, a bilingual teacher in the Spring Branch ISD in Houston, facilitated a four-day summer camp for the second year. Pamela Johnson, Director of Advanced Academics, offers the camp to rising 6th graders to give them a taste of what middle school will be like.
Young foresight professionals get awards for working with students
Teach the Future community members Erica Bol and Aileen Moeck were recognized by the School for International Futures as Next Generation Foresight Practitioners in a competition that attracted more than 75 applicants. Erica leads the Teach the Future initiative in the Netherlands and throughout Europe, and Aileen has created a futures program for young people in Berlin. Read more…
Our sincere thanks to the School and to the judges for recognizing these foresight professionals who are bringing futures thinking to the youngest members of our society.
In every newsletter we would like to give one of our ambassadors a chance to contribute. Below you find the message of Marcel Staring, an educational developer and teacher at Teachers College of the applied university of Windesheim in the Netherlands and one of our enthusiastic collaborators. "Futures thinking is important to integrate into our curriculum because our society changes faster and faster and our education system is always lagging behind. Futures thinking helps you to see the role of education within a societal framework. I met Erica Bol of Teach the Future and we seemed to have a lot in common in our ways of thinking about education and change. Teach the Future brings in a lot of knowledge with regards to futures thinking in our program which really has improved it a lot. One of the projects we have organised since with Teach the Future is a Futures Week, where we created roadmaps about the future of education. We finished the Futures Week with scenario presentations and stimulating students to think about their own preferred future and how to get there. We not only profit from Teach the Future's knowledge but also from Teach the Future’s international network and alliances, such as with UNESCO. We are now on our way to become a UNESCO certified program!" You read and watch more about the Futures Week over here. If you would like to be featured in the next newsletter and share your story, let us know!
Teach the Future on the move
Teach the Future was originally founded by Peter Bishop as an extension of the graduate program in Foresight at the University of Houston and located in Texas. Recently, Peter Bishop moved and Teach the Future is now headquartered in Sacramento, California. If you are ever in the area and interested in teaching the future, contact Peter to exchange views over coffee. peter@teachthefuture.org /+1-281-433-4160