I watching yet another TED Talk (OK, stop with the eye rolling), that was riveting. It was about a teacher who taught students about world conflict, and he created a game for them to solve the problems of the world.
What was fascinating is how the kids bought into it, and really were thoughtful in their assignment. The video and article is linked below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/26/world-peace-game_n_1169863.html?1324915273
As a teacher, I always wanted/needed/insisted upon, control of my classroom. I wonder if I'd loosen the reins more, and given the kids more autonomy, would I have been a better teacher? A more engaging, and more collaborative one?
I realize now, (am I too late?), that kids come to us with tremendous creativity, and with that creativity, they have the power, and if given the opportunity, the ability, to problem-solve. We/I, in my/our, need to control, oftentimes strip them of that creativity.
As a public school teacher, I always marveled at the teaching and learning that my boys were experiencing at their private, Catholic high school. What was it they were getting there, that wasn't happening in my class, or in my school, or in my district? After much thought and deliberation, I concluded that they were being taught how to think. Stay with me. They were not just expected to regurgitate information, they were taught how to analyze that info, tear it apart, synthesize it, and then draw a conclusion.
Why were those teachers, and that system of learning, not universally adopted? I think, of course, I could be wrong, but I think it was because they were more focused on teaching the concepts of learning - how to learn - making that the focus, and not necessarily the content, although that was important, just not the most important aspect of the lesson.
There are many times that I wish I could go back, and redo/reteach those kids who passed through my classes. I believe I have a much better idea of what teaching and learning can be/should be. But I also realize we teach what we know, and you can't teach what you don't know.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20.
Oh, the burden, and the responsibility of teachers everywhere.
We have some much riding on our shoulders. If the teacher who is featured in this video had started teaching today, instead of in 1978, would he have been given the freedom and latitude to do what he has done? Isn't it interesting that we seemed to have produced smarter, more creative, and more gifted and talented students before the onset of this testing culture? Why is that? Is it because we were focused on the teaching and not the testing?
Do I have the answers to the educational state we find ourselves in? Absolutely not. But there are some folks who do. The problem is that the folks who set policy, too often, have a total disconnect with what is happening in the classrooms. And the monster they have created, keeps churning out a new set of standards to meet, when really what they should be doing is setting up standards on teaching kids to think and become independent learners.
That's my two cents. What's yours?
