Just ponderings... I wanted to share more than a regular Facebook post today, so I threw together this new blog. A cleaner look and more organization to come, but for now... just some thoughts. I'm still figuring out what I think, I guess we all are at some level. I am hoping that this blog will be a place to help push that process forward and aid in my own learning process.
Last year in preparation for my new job teaching preschool here in Yuma, I took part in the Happily Family summer conference (which is about education in general and natural parenting themes) and learned a little about homeschooling for the first time. I first encountered John Holt and Growing Without School Magazine and watched the movie, "Class Dismissed: A Film About Learning Outside the Classroom". A seed was planted and then the school year began. I went about my year striving to provide a play-based emergent curriculum for my preschool students aged 3-5, while also educating adults on what that really means (I was not nearly as successful in this latter feat as my perfectionist personality would have liked).
Including my time as an undergraduate at PSU- that time was no less valuable than post-graduation- I have worked in early childhood education for sixteen years. I have seen learning through play in action. I have seen how an individual child, sometimes with the help of a loving and supportive facilitator, can follow one's interests, ask questions, and gain a vast amount of knowledge as a result of natural curiosity and the inborn biological drive to find answers. I know this works, and yet all year I felt the pressure to teach ABCs and 123s explicitly. For the second half of the year, I did "up my game" in this way, but I knew deep in my heart that adult education about how we learn is where I need to focus next.
Working in a school this year, a WONDERFUL school, filled with love and dedicated teachers and administration who want only what's best for the students, has continued to spark my own curiosity. My own drive for self-directed learning is fueled by the life I'm currently living. I see a world with so much opportunity. There are not nearly enough hours in a day to read, watch, listen, travel, and explore all there is in this world. It is common knowledge these days that our system of schooling has not changed much over the last 100 years, but the world certainly has changed. 100 years ago, traveling to other parts of the country, nonetheless the world, was a big undertaking. Today, it's about finding the financial means to do so, and you're off. Through technology, we visit faraway lands, meet people and observe animals that 100 years ago would never have been an option. And yet our most valuable commodity, TIME, is not actually ours from a very young age. The decision about who and what and how to learn, are still being dictated by someone else- not even by a family member who knows us well, but by a system. All of this makes the job of a classroom teacher next to impossible. As a teacher, if you are so fortunate as to choose your own "curriculum," you need to narrow down the whole world, to choose (what may seem at random to some) what is most "important" or "educational" and then do your best to motivate students to agree with your choices (and in reality teachers very rarely ever have this opportunity to choose).
But why? Why do we all have to learn the same things? Some may say that it gives us an equal playing field, but that is not true. If Adam has a spark inside that makes him curious about World War II, he will excel- he will go over and above, asking questions, absorbing everything he can about the topic, impressing his teachers and probably getting a good grade. But Rashan is really into insects- he proclaims at a young age that he will become an entomologist one day. But he has to wake up early, get ready for school and go immerse himself in World War II (and many other things which may or may not have relevance to him personally). But he doesn't really care about WWII- he just has to make it through the day so he can come home, do hours of homework that he dreads, so that he can capture a sliver of sunlight to go hunting for insects in the tall grasses of his neighborhood stream. How is this giving these children an equal foundation? One is thriving, and one may feel tortured.
Since taking Gary Clabaugh's "Foundations of Education" course at LaSalle and reading "Analyzing Controversy," I have felt unrest in my teacher persona. He showed us the history of school, the purpose of school and today's options. He introduced the class to many different types of schools including Free Schools and unschooling for the first time- not to promote the ideas, but to expand our minds.... I was at LaSalle by choice. I wanted exposure to resources that would make me a better teacher. Going to LaSalle to get my Masters degree was for me, a self-directed form of education. Coming to work in an elementary school setting this year started off as a job with the obvious side effect of experience and personal growth in my profession of teaching. But this year has turned into so much more. The gears are spinning in my brain, I am growing and learning more every day about how we learn and what that means for me as a teacher. Join me in this journey to learn about and thrive through choosing our own topics of study. Child or adult, we are all learners and we all have the same 24 hours each day. Let's make the best of it!
The podcast episode (with transcript as an article) that inspired me to start this new blog this morning:
What Does it Mean to Be Educated? by Blake Boles
https://www.self-directed.org/tp/what-does-it-mean-to-be-educated/
Last year in preparation for my new job teaching preschool here in Yuma, I took part in the Happily Family summer conference (which is about education in general and natural parenting themes) and learned a little about homeschooling for the first time. I first encountered John Holt and Growing Without School Magazine and watched the movie, "Class Dismissed: A Film About Learning Outside the Classroom". A seed was planted and then the school year began. I went about my year striving to provide a play-based emergent curriculum for my preschool students aged 3-5, while also educating adults on what that really means (I was not nearly as successful in this latter feat as my perfectionist personality would have liked).
Including my time as an undergraduate at PSU- that time was no less valuable than post-graduation- I have worked in early childhood education for sixteen years. I have seen learning through play in action. I have seen how an individual child, sometimes with the help of a loving and supportive facilitator, can follow one's interests, ask questions, and gain a vast amount of knowledge as a result of natural curiosity and the inborn biological drive to find answers. I know this works, and yet all year I felt the pressure to teach ABCs and 123s explicitly. For the second half of the year, I did "up my game" in this way, but I knew deep in my heart that adult education about how we learn is where I need to focus next.
Working in a school this year, a WONDERFUL school, filled with love and dedicated teachers and administration who want only what's best for the students, has continued to spark my own curiosity. My own drive for self-directed learning is fueled by the life I'm currently living. I see a world with so much opportunity. There are not nearly enough hours in a day to read, watch, listen, travel, and explore all there is in this world. It is common knowledge these days that our system of schooling has not changed much over the last 100 years, but the world certainly has changed. 100 years ago, traveling to other parts of the country, nonetheless the world, was a big undertaking. Today, it's about finding the financial means to do so, and you're off. Through technology, we visit faraway lands, meet people and observe animals that 100 years ago would never have been an option. And yet our most valuable commodity, TIME, is not actually ours from a very young age. The decision about who and what and how to learn, are still being dictated by someone else- not even by a family member who knows us well, but by a system. All of this makes the job of a classroom teacher next to impossible. As a teacher, if you are so fortunate as to choose your own "curriculum," you need to narrow down the whole world, to choose (what may seem at random to some) what is most "important" or "educational" and then do your best to motivate students to agree with your choices (and in reality teachers very rarely ever have this opportunity to choose).
But why? Why do we all have to learn the same things? Some may say that it gives us an equal playing field, but that is not true. If Adam has a spark inside that makes him curious about World War II, he will excel- he will go over and above, asking questions, absorbing everything he can about the topic, impressing his teachers and probably getting a good grade. But Rashan is really into insects- he proclaims at a young age that he will become an entomologist one day. But he has to wake up early, get ready for school and go immerse himself in World War II (and many other things which may or may not have relevance to him personally). But he doesn't really care about WWII- he just has to make it through the day so he can come home, do hours of homework that he dreads, so that he can capture a sliver of sunlight to go hunting for insects in the tall grasses of his neighborhood stream. How is this giving these children an equal foundation? One is thriving, and one may feel tortured.
Since taking Gary Clabaugh's "Foundations of Education" course at LaSalle and reading "Analyzing Controversy," I have felt unrest in my teacher persona. He showed us the history of school, the purpose of school and today's options. He introduced the class to many different types of schools including Free Schools and unschooling for the first time- not to promote the ideas, but to expand our minds.... I was at LaSalle by choice. I wanted exposure to resources that would make me a better teacher. Going to LaSalle to get my Masters degree was for me, a self-directed form of education. Coming to work in an elementary school setting this year started off as a job with the obvious side effect of experience and personal growth in my profession of teaching. But this year has turned into so much more. The gears are spinning in my brain, I am growing and learning more every day about how we learn and what that means for me as a teacher. Join me in this journey to learn about and thrive through choosing our own topics of study. Child or adult, we are all learners and we all have the same 24 hours each day. Let's make the best of it!
The podcast episode (with transcript as an article) that inspired me to start this new blog this morning:
What Does it Mean to Be Educated? by Blake Boles
https://www.self-directed.org/tp/what-does-it-mean-to-be-educated/
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