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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This was a wonderful read. My first lecture about Reggio Emilia confirmed everything I knew that was right for young children. Validation is a great launching pad. That lecture focused on ‘the city’. Since then, all my teaching is child centered. My classroom is the one with spontaneity and eager children. The learning is remarkable. I think it is scary for many teachers to let the children guide the curriculum. They need good mentors for a year or two. My favorite line from the article: ‘children were only being seen through the narrow lens of curriculum expectations’. Many thanks for sharing!
Thank you – I’m enjoying reading your blog too!