Recently, I have participated in many discussions about the transformation of our education system, moving from the “factory model” classroom to that of empowerment, giving students more control of their education and using tools and strategies of the 21st Century.
Most of the conversation has revolved around the elementary and secondary school systems but all grades, all ages, and all classrooms are connected in educating the next generation. Everything we do, regardless of what age group we are working with, is impacted by what has occurred before we become involved in the student’s education and everything that occurs after.
This morning, I was thinking about my time with my grandson over the next few months and what I can do to expand his knowledge, experiences, and Wisdom while maintaining that tricky balance between Early Childhood Educator and “GrandMum”. My thoughts went in two directions, well, three actually. First, I was thinking in concrete terms in regards to how I can adapt my home, the learning environment, to inspire curiosity, exploration and learning. Secondly, I expanded on that list (curiosity, etc), thinking about the learning – teaching process; and thirdly, I thought about what the core element is in regards to my personal philosophies.
RESPECT
Let’s start with that last one, my personal philosophies. Peeling back the layers, looking at all the connections, and finding that one core element that underlies everything, I came up with the word respect.
I want and I believe it is my responsibility to instil and nurture respect.
I want the next generation to respect themselves, respect others (human and otherwise) and respect all things (inanimate objects, ideas, words and so on).
With this in mind, every action, every interaction, and every guiding situation should role-model and encourage respect. I need to respect my role as a teacher as well as a human being. I need to remember that I am human and will not be perfect. Sometimes I will say the wrong thing at the wrong time. I will miss some of those golden teachable moments. I will have times when my mood and my energy level will not be their strongest and will have an impact on others. But these are also teachable moments – teaching by example of how to make things right, how to accept and move beyond the tough moments, how to not judge “me” by individual moments in time.
I need to respect each and every child AND adult, respecting their personal paths, their way of thinking and acting, their motivators, their stories, their possibilities. I am not them, they are not me, and their path is not supposed to look exactly like mine. I am not here to make them think like me but to provide the opportunities to discover their own path, to enhance their journeys and to explore the possibilities.
It is my job to expand on the children’s understanding of the world and to see all things and all people as equals, different but equal. It is my job to nurture the belief and the practice to treat all things with respect and to put the “greater good” above our individual desires.
And all of that means that I need to be engaged. I need to be ready to jump in and guide conversations and actions, to remind the children about respect and how to show it in this moment. I need to have my eyes and ears open all of the time, aware of what is happening in every corner of the room. And I need to be reflective, looking at my own behaviour, checking in to see how I am feeling, what I am thinking and doing, to ensure that I, too, am living respectfully.
THE LEARNING – TEACHING PROCESS
Learning happens all the time, whether it is a structured activity, while playing, during an “oops” moment, or .. well .. any time.
Teaching also happens all of the time, as we are constantly on stage, role-modelling how to act, how to interact, how to speak to others, and, of course, how to show respect.
The “old school” classroom, the factory-model classroom, has the authority figure, the teacher, knowing all and presenting the information that the student needs to learn (or memorize). The teacher plans out the activities, the learning goals, the strategies to be used, and the expected outcomes. The teacher also determines how to assess the learning using a variety of “right and wrong” tools. But we have moved beyond this now… or I should say we (or most of us) know that it is time to move on, to respect the children and society of today and how it has changed in the past fifty years.
The computer age has had a great impact on learning. Everything you want to know is available online. Teachers are no longer needed to provide the “what” – all information is just a few key strokes (or monitor taps) away. But the computer can’t (for the most part) provide hands-on experience and exploration of knowledge in the real world. And there comes the role of the teacher!
Teachers provide the opportunities for exploration and discovery; they open the door to gathering knowledge and turning it into wisdom; they help students figure out how the world applies to them and how they apply to and impact the world. Teachers take students from “a” and guide, nurture, empower, challenge, and teach that which is beyond “a”, whether that is a+ or b.
What does this look like, this taking students from “a” to … “b”?
SETTING THE STAGE
Observe … what did you notice a child exploring, thinking about, wondering about, talking about, reading about?
Inspire … create the opportunity to discover by setting up a display of related items or planning a field trip to a the item of curiosity in the community.
Listen and Record … record the questions and observations that the children make. Help them gather the information and remember the questions so they can seek out the answers.
Expand The Learning … use the words respect, curiosity, discovery; teach them how to use the tools to help them explore and create; ask questions to take them beyond their current knowledge, out of the comfort zone, into higher learning
Document … document the process in text and/or photographs and help the children document their discoveries, building the habit of following through, good work habits, self-awareness, and more.
Share … share the information about the child with him/her as well as parents and other teachers; and help children share what they have learned with others. Build the “Fire of Truth”, the sharing of knowledge, Wisdom, and perspectives so that we can all benefit from each other.
And that all takes me back to my first chain of thought — “what I can do with my home to turn it into a world of discover”!
Great post Debbie! I had a couple things spark whilst reading this. Your first point about respect – am a firm believer in this also. It is so important, yet can seem quite intangible – but there are definite opportunities/moments, esp. in the approach/process, that breathe respect for everyone involved in this teaching-learning-sharing process. You eluded to the idea that you might not always get it right – and it reminded me of a recent training experience where our facilitator said “perfection is just annoying” – I loved this and felt like if you can recognize the value in imperfection and the learning process, and sit in it, and be ok in it, I think it gives other people permission as well to be ok with it and recognize it as necessary. Working in a post-secondary setting, I can say this process continues over and over again with students of all ages, so it is nice to see younger ones getting the opportunity to start with this type of open and welcoming environment of exploration! Enjoy your time with your grandson!! 🙂
Well said, Ms. Pearl. Well said.
(Your answer is very fitting in another discussion that I am having this morning. Thank-you)
Thanks, Pearl.
Great addition to the blog!
I realized that I forgot to talk about respecting one’s self by nurturing one’s natural gifts/talents/interests and ways of processing information. That, too, is from birth to grave.