Published by teachingontheverge
One of my favourite aphorisms about teaching comes from the Canadian composer and music educator, Murray Schafer, who says “Teach on the verge of peril.” Over the years I have been building the courage to do that. To me, teaching on the verge of peril means letting go
of being in control. It means trusting that the subject itself will engage us and draw us towards learning. It means asking students what they most
want to learn, what their biggest questions are, and then changing my course plans, if need be, to honour their interests and needs. It means
speaking my mind about political issues. It means continually taking risks, going into class with questions rather than answers, and being
willing to say “I haven’t thought about that,” or “I don’t know. Who could help us?” It means fending off the inner voices which say “You’re not TEACHING enough; you don’t know enough about this.”
~Katharine Smithrim, Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, Vol 1, No 2, Fall 2003
I also blog for bamradionetwork.com and kveller.com
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That is probably the cleanest you will see that room ever again. Use the pole as a part of a natural divider. Perhaps one side is a dramatic play area. Use that cubbie wall for maybe the alphabet and word wall or creative writing wall. just a copy of ideas.
Thanks for those great ideas! I’m sure it will never be that clean again!
Photos of teeny-tiny things – elf doors, miniature towns, miniature food, model train sets, doll houses, animals (real and plastic). I could stare at photos like that ALL DAY. Wait… unless you don’t want the kids just staring at awesome photos all day? Hmmm. Maybe just a soft bed then.
The soft bed is for me? That’s an awesome idea – how I will sleep with 30 little kids running around, I’m not sure!
You will make it an awesome and welcoming place for discovery and learning, because you are an amazing teacher!
Thanks Tammy! I hope everyone has a wonderful year!