Comments on: Boring Schools, Boring Content

By: Bob Irving

Bob Irving — Mon, 18 Apr 2005 11:15:46 +0000

I teach in a small private school. We have more leeway in terms of teaching to the test, but change comes slowly in independent schools. While I’m saddened by the direction of education in public schools in the US, which only seems to reinforce the factory model from 200 years ago, private schools aren’t necessarily the first to embrace change!

You can drive yourself crazy trying to change things over which you have no control. I resolved early in my career (over 25 years ago now) to be the most passionate, dynamic, challenging, and nurturing teacher I could be. Then at least the students in my classes would have had the possibility of connecting with that kind of approach. Hopefully, they did connect and took something with them, like a lifelong love of learning, or at least the knowledge that learning can be exhilarating hard fun. I’ve heard from enough former students to know that I have had some success. And maybe that is the most we can hope for. But it’s not insignificant.

Bob Irving
Lancaster Country Day School
Blog: http://www.e-lcds.org/wordpress/

By: susan

susan — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 17:49:27 +0000

I’ve been thinking about your post for several days now. I guess that’s how we know it’s a critical issue? Anyway, I wrote about it over on my blog

http://mentormatters.blogspot.com

I agree with the above comment that calls for “passionate teaching.” That’s what gives us the courage to make the right choices.

I really enjoy your posts, Will. Thanx.

By: Tom McHale

Tom McHale — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 19:03:26 +0000

My nine-year-old son has said similar things on many occasions. I wish I could say that passionate teachers or technology is the answer, but there are many problems on many fronts contributing to this. I know many passionate teachers (I like to think I’m one), but we’re all working in a system in which you have to keep everyone on task and prepared for the common or standardized assessments. The kids have also been indoctrinated into this system, and see little incentive to work or learn unless they are getting “credit” for it.
By the time they get to high school, the love of learning is exchanged for a love of reaching a goal. Which means good grades to get into a good college, to get a good job, etc. Natural curiousity and love of learning largely occur outside the classroom. Real learning is messy and non-standardized and therefore isn’t really suited to the current school model. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some great moments and good things happening in schools, it just isn’t set up to promote exciting individualized learning opportunities. The challenge is how to work within a system in which data and control are valued over creativity and individuality, and this is where I think technology and passionate teaching can go a long way.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 12:23:52 +0000

Your post takes me back to one that I made yesterday. It was related to a keynote address by Alan November from a conference at Toronto's York University back in February. Here is my post, including a link to a webcast of the address. It was very interesting and Mr. November made some of the same points as you have. We certainly should not aspire to mediocrity. We have to create new opportunities for learning, as you have done and continue to do. I wholeheartedly agree with Bob's goal of helping students to become lifelong learners. Keeping any knowledge and skills isolated to the confines of the school building does students a disservice. We need to demonstrate a desire - an excitement - for learning. I believe that many teachers (at times, myself included) fall back into the security of traditional modes of transmission of knowledge when faced with unfamiliar or, for them, intimidating course content. Rather than being afraid to face such tasks and hiding behind the same safe practices that our children decry as boring, we should engage ourselves and the the students in the exciting possibilities of new learning experiences. Yes, we might make mistakes along the way, but such problem-solving experiences will serve as models for the lifelong learning that we wish to instill in the students.

By: Dave Bauer

Dave Bauer — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 10:04:51 +0000

I know how you feel. My kids feel the same way sometimes. I have some thoughts on these issues. I posted on my weblog responding to your posts on the topic of the limitations of traditional schools. (Trackback didn't seem to work). http://www.thedesignexperience.org/weblog/swcat/36141 Seymour Papert is definitely one of the inspirations for my view on how learning can improve. I'd also add Alan Kay to that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay I don't know all the answers, I just know we can do better. One article I read (that unfortunately, I cannot find the link to) mentions that one teacher, in front of a classroom cannot scale much past 30 kids. We can't improve learnign without increasing the number of people learning alongside kids. I think its a key place to innovate in learning.

By: Bob Irving

Bob Irving — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 09:49:05 +0000

It’s so painful to read what you’re written here. To think that your daughter is already experiencing the tedium that characterizes so much of education….

As a teacher, I have always felt that making lifelong learners was my chief long-term goal. But I’m always surprised that I don’t seem to be in the majority in that! If we just want to churn out product that will pass inspection at the end of the process, we should make widgets (or whatever). There’s considerably less emotional investment.

Thankfully, there are teachers who have the passion for what education can be. To the barricades!

Bob Irving
Middle School Technology Coordinator
Lancaster Country Day School
Lancaster, PA
Blog: http://www.e-lcds.org/wordpress/