Monday 4 July 2011

Musings on my teaching life

I get some interesting comments from people about the school I work at. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about FFCA and I often am not sure how to respond to people's comments.

Two recent comments that stick in my mind:

"I could never teach there. It's too old school."
"Is that the school that is really structured?"
"is it true that all the lessons are canned and you all have to say the same thing?"

The truth is I used to think it was old school and way too structured - until I went into the school. I was amazed at the atmosphere when I started subbing there. It is a wonderful place to work. I guess I need to figure out a way to respond to people's comments like that.

I have often read about the Thomas Jefferson approach. It fits well with what I believe. I winder though if it can work well in a classroom?

Here's some info from: http://www.tjed.org/about-tjed/

Every person has inner genius. Thomas Jefferson Education consists of helping each student discover, develop and polish her genius. This i s the essence and very definition of great education.

There are really only three kinds of education, and they are best understood from the student’s perspective. Students get a good education for one of three reasons:

they are forced to study long, hard and effectively (the “Stick”)
they are convinced or manipulated to study long, hard and effectively (the “Carrot”)
they love to study long, hard and effectively (the “Love Affair”)
If the first two are “good,” the latter is truly “great.”

The Stick, the Carrot, or the Love Affair–these are the three types of education; and the love affair is by far the most effective.

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