This very short post is why we can stop worrying about exactly what “it” is, that place where every great educator knows that real learning is taking place or about to take place or has the future potential to take place. This is what we work for.
This from a friend who has taken her son out of a very good school to try homeschooling for a year. What a great learning experience for both of them, and a lesson for all teachers:
I value the days where he has frustration and boredom. I see them as precursors to a breakthrough. When he is dissatisfied, he is more motivated to identify what he really wants to do. I’m learning to let silence be in our conversations, instead of rushing in with suggestions. He is beginning to take a more active role in his learning, and I’m thrilled to be part of the journey.
And this passed on to me by a colleague who linked a teacher friend to my TEDx talk. It means these last 30 years in the wilderness pondering why educators would not listen to such simple truths were worth it!
Diana...oh my I cried at certain points. He has really, really brought it all together and states it so well. I loved his comparison of Education as an ecosystem or an industrial model and his one word answer “Dewey”. I often wonder how many new teachers just out of school even learned much about Dewey!
Going to bed happy tonight, high in the Hudson Valley, wondering only why a great country like ours cannot overcome silly disputes to get the planes to fly on time!
You write, “wondering only why a great country like ours cannot overcome silly disputes to get the planes to fly on time!” Because it waits for the system to be almost irrevocably broken to repair it. I’ll bet there are plenty of people – many of them students – wondering the same thing about education.
John Dewey and his constructivist learning model is what I dream of. What a gift if and when the Bridge Year creates that true learning environment. Best of luck to you.