Spent time over this holiday weekend discussing the state of education, urban and otherwise, with future aunt-in-law. She is AP of a school on the north side of Chicago, an English teacher at heart, and her vision of the ideal classroom takes the breath away. I hope she will comment on this post clarifying her views and correcting my misconceptions.
But as I understand it, teachers’ work is to allow students to develop confidence of voice, the ability to conceive of and express new ideas. Teachers are advised to strategically release control, abdicate power to students as constituents, thus promoting a sense of collective responsibility and group membership.
L, are you there?
friend of arno…curious to know if you have seen last season’s episodes of The Wire, which centered around Baltimore’s public schools. on a related note, and with regards to your previous post, in George Pelacanos’ most recent book (also a writer/producer of the Wire) the kids laugh at teachers who say “african-american”; “we’re black” the protagonist’s son emphatically says.
Yes. I would say that an educator’s ultimate goal is to prepare students for the day when we have to release them into the wild.
Learners who can learn independent of me or my efforts…..that is my goal—even with my nine year old students.
yes, im feeling you! it reminds me of an article i read a few weeks ago for one of my classes called the power of possibilities. in the article, the article talked about the process of this teacher starting his career being a dictator type of teacher for fear of an out of control classroom. after several years and a state teacher of the year award, he had managed to manage his classroom from a collective point of view- having the students hold eachother accountable for their actions, as a classroom..
yes, im feeling you! it reminds me of an article i read a few weeks ago for one of my classes called the power of possibilities. in the article, the article talked about the process of this teacher starting his career being a dictator type of teacher for fear of an out of control classroom. after several years and a state teacher of the year award, he had managed to manage his classroom from a collective point of view- having the students hold eachother accountable for their actions, as a classroom..
yes, im feeling you! it reminds me of an article i read a few weeks ago for one of my classes called the power of possibilities. in the article, the article talked about the process of this teacher starting his career being a dictator type of teacher for fear of an out of control classroom. after several years and a state teacher of the year award, he had managed to manage his classroom from a collective point of view- having the students hold eachother accountable for their actions, as a classroom..