Thursday, January 20, 2005
3 Sections of Life
A few years ago a friend stated his philosophy of life like this: There are three aspect of your life – social, family, and work. One aspect can be out of kilter and you'll feel fine, but when any two are not going well, you will feel overwhelmed or depressed. I've though a lot about this over the years and believe that is true. For me, the separate “sections” of my life do spill over to the other sections. If I'm having a bad day with the students, I'll not be as pleasant as a wife as I should be. Lately, though, it seems that all three are chugging along happily. I feel confident in the classroom and see students learning real skills for life. They are engaged in the work and performing well. At home, I then feel more relaxed and able to do homey things without feeling guilty about school. This year we have chosen to limit our social life and spend more time at home. It was a conscious decision when taking this job. We knew we would be living in a fairly unpopulated part of the island and that going out would be expensive. I would like to be a little more connected with the world in general, and that happened last night. We are officially connected with DSL so I can use internet at home now. This will also improve my work for school as I can search for resources from the comfort of my own home.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Purpose of Education?
This Friday is the end of the semester and like many middle and high schools, we have semester exams. Since I only have 8th grade, I've been sitting on the sidelines for this one and pondering the great questions of educational theory. I decided to give my 8th graders a project, rather than an exam. However, within the school, there has been a short-lived discussion about the point of exams. Do we have to have them? Should they be two hours long? What are these students going to experience in college? Is it fair to have projects instead of tests? Is it fair to have a 1 ½ hour test when in college it could for 3 hours?
I think it comes back to the reason for type of educational system that exists. In Pre-K, students are “readied” for first grade and reading. Throughout elementary grades, students are taught what they need for middle school. In middle school we ready them for high school; and high school focuses on college. So what happens after that? Does college prepare students for their actual careers?
In my limited experience, no, it doesn't. As a teacher coming out of a teaching program, I felt very unprepared for the realities of the classroom and working with adults who all have their own agendas and unique personalities. Like many other teachers, the first years teaching were where I got my real education. In the case of my college roommate, she completed 4 years of Information Technology just to be retrained at her first job.
What should education focus on? I think Robert Fulghum was right – most of what we really need to know is learned in kindergarten, and then, unfortunately, unlearned throughout our lives.
To share
Play fair
Clean up your own messes
Say sorry when you hurt
someone
Look – and be aware of the wonder
Live a balanced life
Hold hands and stick together
Teaching this should be simple – just model it in everyday life. But grading, well, that's a horse of a different color. Eight out of ten questions is easy – that's a 80% or a B-. Joey returned Jimmy's hat when it was taken away by a bully – where does that show up on the report card? I look at the daily problems in the classroom and I see students who forget, or never learned the basics of Kindergarten. And, I see a lot of adults who don't remember it either.
In this era of standards and benchmarks, the focus is to set benchmarks for things that can be measured. Explain the causes of the American Revolution. Use the formula to figure out the frequency of a sound wave. Illustrate how the character changes throughout the story. But how do you measure the kindness of the human heart? The outstretched hand for those who have fallen? The tender words for a broken spirit? These are the things we should be teaching, learning, assessing, and valuing. In 10 years, will it matter if a student can recite the causes of the Revolution? No, but if he cannot play fair at work, say sorry to his wife, and live a balanced life then he has truly learned nothing in school.
I think it comes back to the reason for type of educational system that exists. In Pre-K, students are “readied” for first grade and reading. Throughout elementary grades, students are taught what they need for middle school. In middle school we ready them for high school; and high school focuses on college. So what happens after that? Does college prepare students for their actual careers?
In my limited experience, no, it doesn't. As a teacher coming out of a teaching program, I felt very unprepared for the realities of the classroom and working with adults who all have their own agendas and unique personalities. Like many other teachers, the first years teaching were where I got my real education. In the case of my college roommate, she completed 4 years of Information Technology just to be retrained at her first job.
What should education focus on? I think Robert Fulghum was right – most of what we really need to know is learned in kindergarten, and then, unfortunately, unlearned throughout our lives.
To share
Play fair
Clean up your own messes
Say sorry when you hurt
someone
Look – and be aware of the wonder
Live a balanced life
Hold hands and stick together
Teaching this should be simple – just model it in everyday life. But grading, well, that's a horse of a different color. Eight out of ten questions is easy – that's a 80% or a B-. Joey returned Jimmy's hat when it was taken away by a bully – where does that show up on the report card? I look at the daily problems in the classroom and I see students who forget, or never learned the basics of Kindergarten. And, I see a lot of adults who don't remember it either.
In this era of standards and benchmarks, the focus is to set benchmarks for things that can be measured. Explain the causes of the American Revolution. Use the formula to figure out the frequency of a sound wave. Illustrate how the character changes throughout the story. But how do you measure the kindness of the human heart? The outstretched hand for those who have fallen? The tender words for a broken spirit? These are the things we should be teaching, learning, assessing, and valuing. In 10 years, will it matter if a student can recite the causes of the Revolution? No, but if he cannot play fair at work, say sorry to his wife, and live a balanced life then he has truly learned nothing in school.
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