I don’t color a lot anymore, but when I do, I color inside
the lines. As a matter of fact, I take a
bold color and outline the shape that is already drawn in black. I have to ask myself, “When did this start?” When did I become so dependent on boundaries? As I begin to formulate my philosophy of
Education, I find myself wanting to set firm boundaries. I want
to look at just the purpose of education in the middle school math room. If I set that as my boundary, I might state, “The
fundamental purpose or goal of math education is to provide the building blocks
needed to form a firm foundation for the subject and prepare the student for
the next level."
With this definition in mind, the fundamental role of
teaching, then, is to be the one who effectively conveys the information. Let me define “effectively conveys,” because,
as you now know, I need a bold outline.
In order to effectively convey something, a teacher must have both the
content knowledge and the methods to impart that knowledge to others in an
inspiring way, such that the student receives it, retains it and utilizes it.
Oh, that’s so nice and neat.
But wait, who is that? John Dewey has come to join me in coloring
this page. He just took his first stroke
and guess where it lands…that’s right, outside the lines! In his article, “My Pedagogic Creed,” (School Journal vol. 54 (January
1897), pp. 77-80), Dewey discusses the “unconscious education” where “the
individual gradually comes to share in the intellectual and moral resources” of
humanity. Dewey touches on formulating
altruism, as the student begins to “conceive of himself from the standpoint of
the welfare of the group.” Dewey asks
me to consider the social aspects of education, the connection to home life, the
use of exams to “test the child’s fitness for social life.” He asks me to put aside subject-matter and
focus on social life. I guess as an
educator, I will be teaching more than middle school math!
Hold on a sec! Here come my colleagues from Education
2250. Each one has a crayon and they are…you
guessed it! Coloring outside the
lines! They bring out ideas like the
value of what is taught, the balance of the overall curriculum, developing
reasoning and judgment, preparing students for survival, value-based education, external pressures of
funding and defined curricula, teacher/student relationships, and the revolving
roles of teacher/student (who is really teaching whom?).
There is more to this picture of
education than the shapes in bold. I
like what I’m seeing outside the lines!
I hear you about coloring inside the lines.... at the same time, when do we get to draw our own pictures? I think we as educators are much harder on ourselves than other professions because we have this innate responsibility for others futures. I think being able to set firm goals and boundaries will give us the tools to then explore beyond boundaries.
ReplyDeleteLike Dewey’s suggestions on letting the students use already known knowledge, it is by scaffolding and building off of a student’s gained knowledge. For instance, in many of the art classes I took, we were to shadow and shade cylinders and blocks. Now, I would hear many of my classmates complain, “When do we get to create real art? ‘Our own art?” and my professors would tell them that they need to properly be able to shade a cylinder before the masterpiece.
I think by creating a solid base of goals and boundaries it give us an opportunity to feel confident and stable and later gives us foundation and springboard to push ourselves even further.
I agree with this concept of boundaries and established rules. My husband, a writer, is always saying you have to learn the rules of the English language before you can break them. My college teachers said the same thing about design principles in Architecture. In our journeys to become successful educators, the first step is to learn the basic framework. Then we can break free to create our own set of rules.
ReplyDeleteHowever, once we go outside the lines, that previously untouched zone can form a new boundary in itself. It may have a larger diameter than the original, but eventually it will become a new set of lines within which are diligently coloring.
I think it is important to regularly re-evaluate. As soon as we get comfortable functioning on the outside, we need to recognize that we are no longer outside of the lines. That means it is time to push it out a little farther. As teachers we should be constantly evolving, expanding our boundaries and always pushing our comfort level.