What should education be?

9/30/2018

Dan Conn

9/30/2018 11:29:18 am

I believe teaching is an art. As artists, teachers work toward creating nurturing environments where students actively participate in exploring the world around them through sensory experiences. I believe classrooms are governed by ecological dynamics, where intentional, structural, curricular, pedagogical, and evaluative dimensions interact with one another, which in turn creates the ecology of the classroom environment. While teachers cannot always control ecological forces within their classroom, they would do well to focus their intentions around caring about their students. Nel Noddings (2013) notion of care also plays a big role in my philosophy about education. I believe the art of teaching is refined through appreciating the unique qualities of our students.

Ian Clemente

9/30/2018 11:31:55 am

To me, education needs to be ready to build on each student’s potential, rather than the student conforming to the narrative that the school provides. In that sense, education need to be inherently adaptive, or it risks becoming outdated, inadequate or even harmful to students (especially if they enter school from disadvantaged background or with special needs). In turn, it needs to focus on growth of the individual as a whole - not just academically, but also emotionally, socially, spiritually, and in terms of connecting to their culture and community. With that in mind, education needs a system that can evolve and change over time as needed, rather than relying on an overly rigid, one-size-fits-all mentality that is all-too-frequent in schools today.

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What should education be?

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