How a Brilliant 90s Teacher Predicted Modern Online Teaching

Mr. Trester was the most epic 6th grade teacher. He made everyone feel like a real and important human, just with room to grow. Mr. Trester made students feel special, gave us space to explore our interests, and gave us plenty of fun experiences throughout the year. From launching a rocket from the parking lot while blasting music from his Jeep Wrangler to letting us have a Macarena dance party, he made learning unforgettable.

The most memorable thing about Mr. Trester's 6th grade class were his "Boredom Busters". These individual research-based presentation projects were the highlight of the quarter. Students were able to create a project based on any interest - be it wrestling, the cello, cats, or tornadoes. The information could be presented in any creative way the student could think of: a game show, a skit, an activity book, an immersive experience - or any other method conjured up by the mind of an imaginative 12-year old.

Teachers of all kinds could take a page from Mr. Trester's playbook and inspire the minds of their classrooms, their homeschoolers, and even their online learners. These projects are similar to what we now call a Unit Study, but the child creates it independently and presents it to their peers. Interest-based learning before its time. Though, I'm not really here to talk about Boredom Busters and how rad Mr. Trester was to have as a teacher. I'm here to announce that he predicted the future. 🔮

What am I going on about, here? I'll tell you the tale. It was 1996, maybe 1997. The air was clean and crisp in our experimental open classroom pods setup. Our class was nestled between the other 6th grade classes, and someone was more than likely asking to share something on the ELMO. (Does anyone else remember that OG document camera projector?)

Mr. T. began to speak in the way he always did, captivating the ears of every young person around him. Though this time, he wasn't sharing a story of Leave It to Beaver and those nostalgic days gone by. This time, he would tell of the future.

"Class," he began, "we have a student out sick today." The kids responded with grumbles as we missed our classmate. We were all pretty chummy in the 90s. We didn't have social media, we didn't have a way to friend, unfriend, or block. We just all coexisted in the classroom, on the playground, and in our neighborhoods.

One student shouted out, "Lucky they didn't have to come to school and they can wear pajamas all day!", and without missing a beat, Mr. T. responded with, "you know, in the future, no one will miss school when they're sick because they won't have to leave the house!" We looked at each other, perplexed, then back to our leader for clarification.

"That's right! In the future, teachers are going to be on screens, and they'll teach over a live connection in real time, but they won't even be in the same room as the class!" You could have heard a pin drop as our adolescent brains tried to comprehend what this man was saying. Keep in mind we were still using film cameras, and most families didn't have access to making home videos. We didn't carry video-making hardware and software in our pockets. This was almost incomprehensible.

"So, like the Jetsons?", one student broke the silence. "Yes! Exactly like that." A collective "WHOA" permeated the classroom.

"They'll only see their teacher from about here up," our teacher told us, tapping his chest just a few inches below his starched shirt collar, "and those teachers could be wearing silly pajama shorts and the students would never know." The jaws nearly hit the floor with the collective thought. Imagine that - a teacher with a shirt and tie on top, and Bart Simpson shorts on the bottom. "And maybe," he continued - near a whisper now, "fuzzy slippers." The class erupted into laughter.

We didn't really think much of it after that day - the thought of what Mr. Trester said seemed so far-fetched and futuristic to us back then. Yet now, here we are. We are all grown up and by now we are entering the year we will turn 40. And now, we see that he was right. The kids of the future - our own kids - have the option to school fully remote. We have the technology infrastructure now for it to be a reality.

And some of us - myself included - have found ourselves on the other side. I am the teacher on the other end of the screen. I am with my students live, in living color, streaming to them from my home office. I have taught 1,561 kids in my virtual classroom in live online classes on Outschool over the past 4 years - all with a work wardrobe that consists of only shirts. (Whether I wear funny pajama bottoms and fuzzy slippers is anybody's guess.)

That's the tale of how my 6th grade teacher predicted not just the future, but our future - and my personal future. Only time will tell what changes will come over the next few decades. Some great people are already trying to figure it out - like Amir Nathoo, founder of Outschool - in this Forbes article. Or this one from the World Economic Forum that discusses the 5 key trends shaping the EdTech market. What do you see in the future on online education? What does the future of teaching look like? Publish your predictions in the comments, and we'll check back and see who got it right. ✨

Check out my silly YouTube short about this story:

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