Mrs.+T

The object of teaching a child is to enable the child to get along without the teacher. We need to educate our children for their future, not our past... (Arthur C. Clarke)

[|Arthur C Clarke]Clarke was a well educated science fiction writer who led quite an interesting life. He was an auditor for the Board of Education, a radar specialist in WWII, and later he was promoted to a flying officer then to flight Lieutenant. He is credited with his contributions to telecommunications. However, he is best known for his amazing science-fiction books.

I believe that it is the school’s job to produce learning individuals and not necessarily learned ones. We want life-long learners. School should be about the implanting of a will and ability to learn. Education should teach us how to think, rather than telling us what to think. And, yes, this process does involve some knowledge that may never be used again, but its purpose is to create another avenue for understanding a particular concept. After observing many classrooms, I have found that the traditional method of instruction is to have the teacher do the majority of the talking while the student’s job is to absorb this material. While this may be the best way to have classroom control, research shows that the most effective way of learning is to create an environment where the student becomes an active participant in his or her own education. After all, a democratic society requires self sufficient people, people who can think on their own and not be told exactly what to do. This year I have continually tried to set up learning environments and assignments that allow students to work together to produce work while allowing for individual thinking. So far, I’m very impressed with the ideas that are produced. This is the main reason why I have continued to try these activities. However, I am totally shocked by the advantage certain students take when given this opportunity. My hope is that this minority of students will realize the negative impact they are having on other students and themselves (rather than this vision they must have of themselves as being cool for disrupting the learning environment) and decide to become active participants in our classroom. School and life is much easier when you decide to become a positive active participant. After all, it is your future.

How do I create links? (hint: you may have to go to the bottom of this page and move the center bar over to see the example of how to create links. I can't figure out how to make the screencast smaller.)

