It amazes me how many of us want structures. We want structures like the set time to be at school and the time we can leave. We want the set period time to our day. We want the canned curriculum so we can just flip the page and see what we have to do for tomorrow. I would love to interview the teachers of the 1800's in those one room school houses and see if they had the set curriculum and demands we do. Some areas did, but many did not- and they still knew what to teach each day and they moved their students forward. For some of us - these are our grandparents or even parents' generation, and we would never say they were not educated. What makes an educated person? Does just going to school make you educated? I know a special man who quit school at 16, lied about his age and went to Vietnam. He survived and now runs his own $100,000/ year business. It can be done and he has worked very hard to get there. But, he will never have a high school diploma listed on his credentials, nor did he get to go to prom. Life was a bit different then. Now it is all about how to move forward and fast. And it still comes back to some hardcore competencies that he learned along the way- how to work hard, dig your heels in and be courteous and respectful to all people; to honor the working man alongside the college graduate; to treat all people with common decency; to expect others to work hard for a good day's wage; to be proud of what you have and who you are; and to be able to lay your head down at the end of the day knowing you've done the best you can at all you attempted that day. I used to sometimes joke with him that most of that works, unless you are a teacher and never really know if it worked that day. We can talk for hours about where curriculum for schools should come from, where it should lead our students and how to carry it out, but in the end, we want solid, happy, productive citizens that can search out what they need in life when they need it. Is there a competency or curriculum map for that?
Great thoughts about what's important - qualities that aren't measurable by tests. We as teachers can certainly try to reinforce the importance of hard work, perseverance, and motivation. We can and should do our best to model these qualities for our students. But, ultimately, isn't the foundation laid at home?
ReplyDeleteYes, how to be the best person, citizen, and productive human being. Sometimes these get lost in the shuffle of the curriculum, standards, and test results. Well said!
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