There would be indoors and outdoors and plenty of dirt and costumes and easels and books and hats and masks. Of course, we would need a kitchen and places to hang timelines and display prints of famous people and places and artwork. There would be plenty of magnets, of course, and rulers and food coloring and weights and measures. We could probably fit a stage in the corner, close to the piano and the guitar stand. I'm just not sure what we would do about desks.
Oh, dreams of a classroom. We'd be reciting poetry, growing herbs, experimenting with physics, and of course, learning logic. I know they're only in third grade, but what else would you have them doing? Using worksheets? When so many of them learn through seeing, hearing, touching? Believe me when I say there are children who have never smelled fresh basil and wouldn't know a petunia from a parsnip.
My dream classroom would be a crossroads for scholars, where writers could write, readers could read, statesmen could study the Declaration of Independence, and singer/songwriters could pick up a guitar for the first time. It would be a place of order, no doubt about that. No one can learn in chaos, but mud, finger painting, mad scrambles and baby chickens don't always mean chaos.
Some would say we must choose between teaching students to reason and problem solve and teaching them about Columbus in 1492 and William in 1066. That's a lot of rubbish. It's like saying you have to choose between peanut butter and jelly when everyone knows that you need both for a sandwich. We'll have our peanut butter and our jelly, thank you very much, except maybe we'll do peanut free peanut butter in case of allergies.
Hum. All that's left to do is find a job and get to sewing my curtains and building a theater stage and... someday I will have a classroom outfitted for greatness. Until then, I'll be editing my resume and looking at salary schedules and wondering if I'll ever be a teacher at all. It seems so unattainable, to be an adult with a job that I studied four years for. How did it come to this? How have I survived public bathrooms, crossing streets and fast food restaurants unscathed? I don't know, except that maybe the children that I'm praying for even now will one day walk in that door and I will be given the gift of teaching them.
Love,
LMS
Some would say we must choose between teaching students to reason and problem solve and teaching them about Columbus in 1492 and William in 1066. That's a lot of rubbish. It's like saying you have to choose between peanut butter and jelly when everyone knows that you need both for a sandwich. We'll have our peanut butter and our jelly, thank you very much, except maybe we'll do peanut free peanut butter in case of allergies.
Hum. All that's left to do is find a job and get to sewing my curtains and building a theater stage and... someday I will have a classroom outfitted for greatness. Until then, I'll be editing my resume and looking at salary schedules and wondering if I'll ever be a teacher at all. It seems so unattainable, to be an adult with a job that I studied four years for. How did it come to this? How have I survived public bathrooms, crossing streets and fast food restaurants unscathed? I don't know, except that maybe the children that I'm praying for even now will one day walk in that door and I will be given the gift of teaching them.
Love,
LMS
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