“What is the point of this bunker?” belongs to my favorite subset of classroom questions, The Question Whose Answer Looks Insultingly Easy. No question goes farther to disrupt and expand a student’s perception of the world than the one which, moments ago, she was absolutely sure she knew the answer to.

Muir Overlook Emplacements from Dan Meyer on Vimeo.

Personally, I thought it was a gun emplacement, as most of my students will, but the information kiosk told me otherwiseBTW here are my high-res photos and video zipped up..

The point of this post isn’t really to ask, “what can you do with this?”That lesson plan, involving triangulation and some a/v simulations, pretty much writes itself. The point of this post is a rejoinder to How To Be A Boring Teacher.

All pretenses of modesty aside, I facilitate classes this year that apply tenacious inquiry to goofy conceptual digressions and difficult standards-based math alike. At this point in the year, a small handful of students are still frustrated that the point of our class isn’t to reproduce example problems from the textbook but the rest are shockingly patient with irresolution. I am never less than stunned at the dereliction of duty they tolerate in their teacher, that they let me set them adrift on unfamiliar intellectual tides while I watch from shore, doing nothing more helpful than asking some elliptical questions. I’m shocked, basically, that these kids don’t roast me over a spit every time I ask, “So what can you do with this?”

Much of this happened accidentally. Much of the alchemy eludes me but I know that one of my essential teacher actions here is that I model my own interest constantly, that I make the messy process of reconciling my own curiosities a matter of classroom record as often as possible.

I can only do this if I make a habit of bringing that process into their classroom. So I keep a camera on hand and use it often. I bring the world and all my messy questions about it into my classroom through a digital projector whenever I canThis, from my experience, is the real gift of a digital projector, not the ability to overlay text on top of a photo.. The net effect has profoundly reshaped my classes and my priorities.

I no longer care if they are interested in me. That is a young teacher’s game. I care that they are interested.