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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I love Teacher Tom! He has inspired us in so many ways. Three years ago we threw out the tried and true annual “play” and moved to the children creating their own. Instead of performing it live, we make a movie and celebrate with a premiere for the families, red carpet and all. Not only does the story, costumes and crazy plot come from the children, but they get the joy of watching their work with their families. They are the stats and they get to see the result of their hard work (and playfulness).
Oops. They are the stars. 🙂
That’s a great idea Marie – also interesting as technology becomes so much more accessible that children can do some of the technical pieces on their own.