Over the last few years I have been pushing my teachers to focus more on learning than on teaching, and by doing so creating a child centered classroom rather than a teacher centered classroom. My teachers know that one on my pet peeves is when they give an assessment that is pure memorization without any type of thinking involved. This year the focus has been on technology and 21st century skills (not that those differ from child centered or critical thinking). To be honest it has been an uphill battle getting teacher buy in. They see and understand the benefits but as I mentioned in my previous post change is very hard, and until now I haven’t been using the term “to improve” but rather was focusing on change which was met with resistance and some skepticism.
However today I had a moment when it all seemed worth it. I walked into a first grade class and saw an engaged group of students learning, using whiteboards so that each student was engaged, and the use of the Smart Board. I sent an email to the teacher letting her know how I felt and to thank her.
Often we see and look at what is wrong with education; NCLB,RTTT,teaching for the test, teachers who force things on their students, testing for memory and not for skills, to name but a few. Yes there is a lot that needs to be fixed and I still have a lot of work to do in my own school, but I think every once in a while we need to share our success and know that we as administrators do make a difference and that we as educators are making a difference it may be one student, or one teacher at a time but we are succeeding.
Have a Great Day!
I encourage you to share your success stories
Akevy
Celebrating successes is good for the whole school community. Thanks for sharing.
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