I would like to that Shalom for posting the link to Seth Godin's educational manifesto "Stop Stealing Dreams." While I am a Seth Godin fan, I first saw it on Lookjed.
For those of you who are not familiar with his work, Godin is a best-selling author of books like Linchpin and Tribes that should be of interest to teachers since they focus on leadership in the 21st century world of the internet and social media. Much of what he writes appears as short, pithy sayings (sort of long Twitter posts), which no doubt appeals to those of us who have short attention spans because we were raised watching Sesame Street.
"Stop Stealing Dreams" is aimed specifically at teachers, and while there is much to disagree with, there is a lot that should make you think - and rethink - the things that you do in the classroom.
Some examples:
<<
Every once in a while, between third grade and the end of high school, a teacher offers the class a chance to do something interesting, new, off topic, exciting, risky, and even thrilling.
I’d venture it’s about 2 percent of the hours the student is actually in school. The rest of the time is reserved for absorbing the curriculum, for learning what’s on the test.
Just wondering: what would happen to our culture if students spent 40 percent of their time pursuing interesting discoveries and exciting growth opportunities, and only 60 percent of the day absorbing facts that used to be important to know.
>>
or
<<
School is not merely vocational. It used to be, a long time ago, but then, in addition to work training creeping up, the Academy crept down. It became important to our culture for even the street-sweeper to know what a star was, to have a basic understanding of the free market, and to recognize Beethoven when he heard it.
In the rush to get a return on our investment, sometimes we forget that having knowledge for the sake of knowledge is a cornerstone of what it means to be part of our culture. The shift now is this: school used to be a one-shot deal, your own, best chance to be exposed to what happened when and why. School was the place where the books lived and where the experts were accessible.
A citizen who seeks the truth has far more opportunity to find it than ever before. But that takes skill and discernment and desire. Memorizing a catechism isn’t the point, because there’s too much to memorize and it changes anyway. No, the goal has to be creating a desire (even better, a need) to know what’s true, and giving people the tools to help them discern that truth from the fiction that so many would market to us.
>>
If you weren't inspired to read it based on Shalom's recommendation, I hope that these examples encourage you to do so -
[
www.sethgodin.com]
Yerucham
