That was the topic for the panel last night at EduCon and I’m not even going to attempt a summary of the discussion. Too many good thoughts in too little time.
Hopefully, a video will be posted sometime soon so you can see for yourself and I can catch what I missed the first time.
However, one common thread jumped out at me during the conversation.
All the distinguished members of the panel who spoke tonight are very successful people who seem to have gotten where they are in spite of school (at least when it comes to K12) rather than because of it.
They all spoke of one or two teachers who turned them on to their particular field or of other pivotal experiences that were outside the normal process of what we call “school”.
None of them spoke lovingly of the lectures they sat through, homework assignments, or the standardized tests they had to take.
Just a thought to start the day.
I’m so very interested to hear more of this discussion on “the purpose of school.” I entered teaching as a second career because I wanted to help children discover their strengths and engage them in learning about themselves and the world. The NCLB mentality pervading our schools today is a travesty.