I was intrigued by a couple of blog posts yesterday that were titled, “5 Things We Need to Quit Pretending.” You can read them here and here.
Since I like to steal ideas but modify them, I decided to flip the coin. What should we start pretending in education? Here are my 5 things (okay, it’s actually 6 – just pretend it’s 5):
- Every child in our classroom is our own flesh and blood and we have a vested interest in the education they receive.
- Our classrooms have no walls and it is just as easy to interview a student in another country as it is to speak to the teacher next door.
- Every student has at least one social media account and it is our responsibility to teach them how to use it safely and kindly.
- The interactive, passionate lessons you teach will have a greater impact on your students than their scores on their standardized tests.
- Dr. Derek Shepherd did not die on Grey’s Anatomy.
- Steve Jobs was reincarnated into the young man who refuses to stay in his seat, always asks you to repeat directions, and never actually follows them. You will patiently engage him in exciting lessons and he will mention your name one day in the Harvard graduation speech that he was asked to deliver after creating a successful and thriving community on Mars, referring to you as the person who inspired him follow his passions. When you retire, he will offer you one of his palatial mansions as a retirement home, which will include a chauffeur, a chef, and a hot tub that you never have to maintain because, duh, there are other people who will take care of that.
Okay, I guess I got a little off track for a moment.
Obviously it’s not pretending to think our lessons are going to effect our students more than those silly test scores.
Right?
