Marching off the Map: Inspire Students to Navigate a Brand New World

Elmore, Tim. Marching off the Map: Inspire Students to Navigate a Brand New World. 2017. 256p. ISBN 978-0-9966970-6-4. Available at 371.1 ELM on the library shelves.

For more than 150 years, education has not changed much, and a classroom in 2010 would have been recognizable to a student from the 1860s. However, as we have transitioned from the industrial age to the information age, we are once again transitioning from the information age to the age of knowledge, and there are no maps available that can help guide this transition. In this book, Elmore argues that, as Alexander the Great and his armies literally walked off the maps they had and explored the greater world as he conquered it, educators, policy makers, and students need to boldly step off the map by developing tools that will allow them to function in this new age.

Elmore reviews how the three previous generations diverge from the current crop of students and explains how each generation perceives the others. He discusses how the world has changed through the arrival of a widespread and accessible internet, and how the rise of mobile devices allows for an interconnected but always on world. Reaching these new learners require a different set of skills than was previously available to teachers. Several strategies are reviewed, and universal elements of teaching are explored. The move away from tests to more meaningful contents is necessary to reach and break through the apathy students currently display to get to what they are passionate about. Teachers also need to realize that students will continue to struggle with current societal expectations, but that two universal challenges, anxiety and amorality, will need to be addressed by teachers and parents to help them develop into productive members of society.