Oh yeah. I hear you.This was written in 2007, during a big push towards alternative education. I was there at the time, on the front lines. Unfortunately, the ideas have never gained wide traction, only having a cursory effect. I'm a big fan of Sudbury Schools, democratic education. But Waldorf, Montessori and many others, those who really care, know it works. As you recount, it is about enacting creativity, embedding it and taking our time also. Learning not just through banking knowledge but applying it, doing it, making. Plus, teachers with the freedom to teach. You made a good choice ... I wanted to post this old article because it hits many chords and forgot to mention, written by a teenager. I feel sad that the ideas of Will Richardson, Ken Robinson, John Taylor Gatto, Illych and others are applauded but given little import in our schools transfixed with mechanistic and behavioral thinking, always looking for quick fixes. https://willrichardson.com/
Our children have been writing narratives this week on a particular topic, and have responded with ‘can we write one on whatever we want’. I wish we didn’t have writing moderations to satisfy - I think I’ll allow it earlier in the year next year to give them that creative opportunity.
David, a lot of these points have been addressed by "alternative" education systems that still exist such as Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) Education in which I taught for several years. As an (elementary school) Steiner school teacher, I had to make up stories to teach my lessons. In first grade, each letter of the alphabet had a story so they were not introduced as just abstract symbols. I remember I had a story of a duel between "c" and "k" to decide which one should remain in the alphabet as their roles overlapped. I wrote and sang my own songs with students; for example, to introduce the parts of speech the beginning of my song went something like (with a country beat) - "If it's a name you hear, then a noun it must be, names of people, everything you see, and some you can't like truth, knowledge, honesty; but a verb have you heard is a doing word, it can run, race and ride, look and hide ..." My class loved that song! I wrote plays each year for the class to perform, based on the main theme for each year. Year three was Persia, so we had a play about Ahura Mazdao with a real fire burning in the center of stage (in a kind of barbecue dish). Lessons were artistic and experiential. Main academic subjects were introduced through two-hour morning lesson blocks over three weeks and often were the basis of later arts and crafts lessons such as painting, drawing, sculpting, knitting, weaving, crochet. I remember getting my students to make their own bows and arrows for a lesson about measurement, then applying the concepts learnt to work out how far they had fired their arrows. Unfortunately, I wasn't good at class management, so didn't last as a teacher, but I enjoyed the creative freedom of that time and sent my own children to a Waldorf School to benefit from the richness of its curriculum.
Oh yeah. I hear you.This was written in 2007, during a big push towards alternative education. I was there at the time, on the front lines. Unfortunately, the ideas have never gained wide traction, only having a cursory effect. I'm a big fan of Sudbury Schools, democratic education. But Waldorf, Montessori and many others, those who really care, know it works. As you recount, it is about enacting creativity, embedding it and taking our time also. Learning not just through banking knowledge but applying it, doing it, making. Plus, teachers with the freedom to teach. You made a good choice ... I wanted to post this old article because it hits many chords and forgot to mention, written by a teenager. I feel sad that the ideas of Will Richardson, Ken Robinson, John Taylor Gatto, Illych and others are applauded but given little import in our schools transfixed with mechanistic and behavioral thinking, always looking for quick fixes. https://willrichardson.com/
Our children have been writing narratives this week on a particular topic, and have responded with ‘can we write one on whatever we want’. I wish we didn’t have writing moderations to satisfy - I think I’ll allow it earlier in the year next year to give them that creative opportunity.
So much of teaching is a compromise. There is a tension between form and freedom as you suggest.
David, a lot of these points have been addressed by "alternative" education systems that still exist such as Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) Education in which I taught for several years. As an (elementary school) Steiner school teacher, I had to make up stories to teach my lessons. In first grade, each letter of the alphabet had a story so they were not introduced as just abstract symbols. I remember I had a story of a duel between "c" and "k" to decide which one should remain in the alphabet as their roles overlapped. I wrote and sang my own songs with students; for example, to introduce the parts of speech the beginning of my song went something like (with a country beat) - "If it's a name you hear, then a noun it must be, names of people, everything you see, and some you can't like truth, knowledge, honesty; but a verb have you heard is a doing word, it can run, race and ride, look and hide ..." My class loved that song! I wrote plays each year for the class to perform, based on the main theme for each year. Year three was Persia, so we had a play about Ahura Mazdao with a real fire burning in the center of stage (in a kind of barbecue dish). Lessons were artistic and experiential. Main academic subjects were introduced through two-hour morning lesson blocks over three weeks and often were the basis of later arts and crafts lessons such as painting, drawing, sculpting, knitting, weaving, crochet. I remember getting my students to make their own bows and arrows for a lesson about measurement, then applying the concepts learnt to work out how far they had fired their arrows. Unfortunately, I wasn't good at class management, so didn't last as a teacher, but I enjoyed the creative freedom of that time and sent my own children to a Waldorf School to benefit from the richness of its curriculum.