A Runner's View of Education

Education is like training someone for a marathon.  In order to prepare for a twenty six mile race, you have to start small, building endurance and confidence along the way much like young students must start by learning the basics of reading and writing and the classroom rules before they are prepared to tackle more complex subjects like science and chemistry.  Short races completed successfully build confidence and poor performances give runners the opportunity to evaluate their training and nutrition logs to determine how to improve for their next race.  Likewise, students will learn and be evaluated to ensure that they are prepared to take the next step in their academic journey with confidence.  They understand that there will be good days and bad days...they persevere knowing they have the support of those around them and a desire to succeed.  As their training progresses, the races become longer and the training more intense.  Well-trained runners who have invested in a strong base are able to handle the additional miles and the pressure of longer and more difficult races.  Students with a solid foundation of basic skills will also be able to face the growing challenges of more advanced curriculum with confidence and skills enabling them to succeed at higher levels as they progress in their academic career.  The training will be long and sometimes hard, but the feeling that comes with crossing the finish line is worth the time invested and rarely signals the end of someone’s running career, much like graduation is not the end of learning.  Distance running for most people is about the process of training, growing and striving to beat one’s personal best.   Education should be administered with the same objectives…for each student to grow and learn at his/her own pace with the goal of becoming a well-educated individual with a thirst for knowledge and an intrinsic desire to continue learning even after the graduation caps have been thrown!

Runners as a group are a wonderful example of how a classroom community should operate.  Fellow runners who far exceed my own ability have trained with me pushing me to achieve more than I could have training solo.  I have also trained with runners who race at a slower pace and truly enjoyed mentoring and encouraging them to push themselves to new heights.  I have competed in many races from 5Ks to a full marathon and always see runners supporting one another… even in races.  Runners are often overheard offering words of encouragement to struggling competitors as they pass in contrast to the “trash talking” that so often occurs at other sporting events.  Similarly, I think classrooms should offer students the opportunity to act as mentor and mentee.  Children who are struggling would benefit from the expertise and encouragement of those who have mastered the material.  Sometimes the best person to explain something to a child is another child.  Others who have mastered the subject matter can hone their communication skills as they try to explain a process to another student.  A classroom should be a place where teachers facilitate learning and provide students with opportunities to develop mutually beneficial relationships with other students.  Children need to learn from a young age that there is great value to working as a community to achieve your goals!

One of my favorite topics in this class was the idea of place-based education.  I had seen it on a small scale when my son attended a farm school for his first pre-school experience, but I had never been aware of higher learning institutions operated on the same principals.  I truly believe that children need a connection with nature. Our amazing brains developed as we walked many miles every day in nature and to deprive children of something so integral to who they are, replacing trees and grass with fluorescent lights and linoleum floors must have a negative impact on their ability to learn.  I think connecting learning with a child’s local environment and culture provides them with an appreciation of why learning is important and how school learning applies to their lives.  They are motivated to learn because they understand why it is important and they begin to understand how their actions impact their surroundings motivating them to make better choices about how they treat the environment.  I know that as a teacher I will always be looking for ways to incorporate real world experiences, cultural celebrations and nature into my curriculum.

The blogs and discussions in this class taught me the value of collaborative learning.  This class was unique because we were able to do our assignments independently while benefiting from the research of others in the class.  On many occasions another student in the class would highlight a quote from the text or find a Pin that I would have easily overlooked had I been working independently. It was also beneficial to read other blogs and consider the opinions and experiences of other students.  I think it is easier to empathize with actual people who have experienced bullying, discrimination, and other struggles than to feel empathy for faceless people in a book.  In my experience, ignorance and fear are at the root of most problems.  Simply getting to know someone who faces adversity humanizes the issue and makes most people empathize and look for ways to help.  In this class we were able to benefit from the experience and viewpoints of other students in a relaxed atmosphere because our grades were not contingent upon the work produced by other students.  This type of collaboration lends itself to cooperative learning where students read blogs to learn new things and identify resources without the stress and frustration that is so often associated with group learning projects where every contribution is read with a focus on grading not learning. I think students in our classrooms would benefit from the opportunity to participate in collaborative learning.  It would be interesting to have students produce a report individually and then allow them to make revisions after seeing the information other students included in their reports.  What a great lesson in the value of working as a team!!!

The most interesting blogs of the semester were about Columbus Day.  Some people were caught off guard while others were aware of the unpleasant truths behind this great America “hero”.  Many students sought ideas for sharing the truth about Columbus with the students in their classrooms and others focused on replacing the celebration of Columbus Day with a celebration of Native American Culture.  I got the sense that while most of us disagreed with lying to students, many of us struggled with when and how to present the truth to elementary school students.

One of my favorite blogs was Haley’s about a Wisconsin Spanish Immersion program where elementary school students who speak predominantly English, attend a school where students speak only Spanish.  It is a great concept and offers young students an opportunity to become fluent in a language and to immerse themselves in a different culture.  What a great way to promote appreciation for diversity and to prepare students to enter the global economy!  I will look for opportunities to introduce students in my classroom to different languages and cultures and encourage parents who speak multiple languages to share their stories with the children in my classroom.

What struck me the most in reading the blogs in EDU100 were the similarities in our goals.  The intention of every student in our class is to create a classroom environment that will nurture and honor each student.  There is an overwhelming desire by every future teacher in this group to create a culture of inclusion and to teach students in a way that is relevant and meaningful.