Now that I am a student, I realize that I have two kinds of teachers and both are necessary. One group of my teachers are the excited visionaries. They see my future and are eager to show me all that world of Minecraft can become. They enthusiastically race ahead into the realm of possibilities. I frequently am unable to follow where they are going but I sense that their ideas are worth pursuing and am willing to persist because they know something that I want to know.
Then there are the logicians. They are the calmer, sequential thinkers. They can shift down to my level and clearly explain my exact next step. I rely on them to guide me and turn to them when I have questions.
I need both.
This leads me to consider just what a misguided effort it is to attempt to standardize the delivery of education. The idea that one size fits all or that if we just develop the right program we can finally put an effective education system into place is a waste of time. Just as students require differentiated instruction, teachers require recognition that different teaching styles exist and that one is not more valid than the other. I would not want my own students to have a teacher like me every year. I know my weaknesses and am grateful that there are other teachers in the school who compensate for what I am unable to do. And I know that the way I engage with my students compensates for the weaknesses in their systems. Each teacher has something unique to offer. It's time that the world of education recognized this.
Then there are the logicians. They are the calmer, sequential thinkers. They can shift down to my level and clearly explain my exact next step. I rely on them to guide me and turn to them when I have questions.
I need both.
This leads me to consider just what a misguided effort it is to attempt to standardize the delivery of education. The idea that one size fits all or that if we just develop the right program we can finally put an effective education system into place is a waste of time. Just as students require differentiated instruction, teachers require recognition that different teaching styles exist and that one is not more valid than the other. I would not want my own students to have a teacher like me every year. I know my weaknesses and am grateful that there are other teachers in the school who compensate for what I am unable to do. And I know that the way I engage with my students compensates for the weaknesses in their systems. Each teacher has something unique to offer. It's time that the world of education recognized this.
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