Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Just been surfing the web and found myself on the Mundesley Junior School blog. This poem on one of the posts really had me thinking about what we teach our kids at school and how much teacher directed learning still takes place in our schools.
Photo source : Learning fact and opinion by Old Shoe Woman
The Things We Steal From Children
If I am always the one to think of where to go next.
If where we go is always the decision of the curriculum or my curiosity and not theirs,
If motivation is mine,
If I always decide on the topic to be studied, the title of the story, the problem to be worked on,
If I am always the one who has reviewed their work and decided what they need,
How will they ever know how to begin?
If I am the one who is always monitoring progress.
If I set the pace of all working discussions,
If I always look ahead, foresee problems and endeavour to eliminate them,
If I swoop in and save them from cognitive conflict,
If I never allow them to feel and use the energy from confusion and frustration,
If things are always broken into short working periods,
If myself and others are allowed to break into their concentration,
If bells and I are always in control of the pace and flow of work,
How will they learn to continue their own work?
If all the marking and editing is done by me,
If the selection of which work is to be published or evaluated is made by me,
If what is valued and valuable is always decided by external sources or by me,
If there is no forum to discuss what delights them in their task, what is working,
what is not working, what they plan to do about it,
If they have not learned a language of self-assessment,
If ways of communicating their work are always controlled by me,
If our assessments are mainly summative rather then formative,
If they do not plan their way forward to further action,
How will they find ownership, direction and delight in what they do?
If I speak of individuals but present learning as if they are all the same,
If I am never seen to reflect and reflection time is never provided,
If we never speak together about reflection and thinking and never develop a vocabulary for such discussion,
If we do not take opportunities to think about our thinking,
If I constantly set them exercises that do not intellectually challenge them,
If I set up learning environments that interfere with them learning from their own actions,
If I give them recipes to follow,
If I only expect the one right conclusion,
If I signify that there are always right and wrong answers,
If I never let them persevere with something
really difficult which they cannot master,
If I make all work serious work and discourage playfulness,
If there is no time to explore,
If I lock them into adult time constraints too early,
How will they get to know themselves as a thinker?
If they never get to help anyone else,
If we force them to always work and play with children of the same age,
If I do not teach them the skills of working co-operatively,
If collaboration can be seen as cheating,
If all classroom activities are based on competitiveness,
If everything is seen to be for marks,
How will they learn to work with others?
For if they…
have never experienced being challenged in a safe environment,
have had all of their creative thoughts explained away,
are unaware what catches their interest and how then to have confidence in that interest,
have never followed something they are passionate about to a satisfying conclusion,
have not clarified the way they sabotage their own learning,
are afraid to seek help and do not know who or how to ask,
have not experienced overcoming their own inertia,
are paralysed by the need to know everything before writing or acting,
have never got bogged down,
have never failed,
have always played it safe,
how will they ever know who they are?
Fantastic poem, certainly made me think about classroom practices. Will share this with colleagues next week.
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hi miss w,
thanks for checking out my teman’s blog and for leaving a comment.
i’ve now added you on my blogroll.
i’m a lote/esl teacher and i’m teaching at a high school in sydney, so my students vary from 12 y.o. to 18 y.o.
i’m always interested to know what else other teachers are doing with their classes out there. i can see that you have done a lot of things with your students to engage and motivate them in their learning. through this edublogs we can look forward to exchange our ideas
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Hi Miss W!
I also really enjoyed reading this poem & have now posted about it on my blog. I have also sent it off to the staff of our school! What a great find…I’m going to print it out for my desk!
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dalejrfan1 Reply:
December 12th, 2008 at 2:36 am
I enjoy reading to
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Hi, Miss W.
It’s a magnificent poem! Me too, will share it with my colleagues at school. It’s an appropriate time to reflect upon our ways of teaching as, in my country,students went away for Summer holidays and we have stayed alone to evaluate our work and prepare next school year.
The presence of the traditionally teacher centered learning process is overwhelming yet; we are also entangled in bureaucratic duties that suck up the best of our time to reflect upon the role we are playing in all this.
When my students will be back, in September, I will give this poem to them, so they can comment it freely and we will post our answers.
Thank you for sharing,
Ines
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Miss W,
such a thought provoking poem. Thank you. I really love your blog.It has been very helpful. Thanks also for your info about metmuseum on my blog. I am not an art teacher but i will pass it on to my art staff. I am a Deputy Principal, English trained, hoping to inspire my staff to branch out and use web 2.0 tools in their teaching. So, the way you use your blog is an inspiration to us! Thank you so much for sharing.
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Hi
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