My mind has been going back to this movie I saw a couple years ago. I can't remember the name of it. It was animated. All the people live in the center of the earth or on another planet or something. Anyway....the part that stuck with me is that everything was so automated-- so technology based-- that people didn't even bother to get up and walk anymore. They just sat in their glide mobile or whatever it was and had a remote for everything. Needless to say they were obese, but that didn't bother them either.
I surveyed my students today and asked them to tell me what makes a good teacher. Number one on their list...... They have to be fun. I asked for examples. Well, so and so dances for us and so and so is laid back and lets us shoot papers in the trashcan. Then I asked how a teacher should dress. They said they didn't care and that it really didn't matter to them. I asked if sweats would be okay. Yeah.... they said that would be fine. Who cares. I asked them "what" they wanted a good teacher to teach them..... Answer: just anything "fun".
I remember back to my favorite teacher.... Mrs. James. She taught me to read and she taught me that I SHOULD want to be in the highest reading group. She taught me that I needed to take pride in my penmanship because it didn't just say something about me... it said something about my family. She dressed in skirts or dress pants with silk blouses and a sweater. She wore horned rim glasses with little diamonds in the corner and the chains attached because she let them hang at her neck sometimes. She was always well groomed and so professional. I never wanted to disappoint her. I never wanted to be her "buddy". I wanted to make her proud. I worked very hard to do that and I was rewarded with good grades and a kind smile. We didn't watch a single movie in there and we didn't have i-pods or cell phones to distract us. We cleaned our desks out and organized them once a week because it was a reflection of who we were and we didn't want to be perceived as messy.
I guess I am getting old. I long for manners and high expectations and pride (not "entertainment value") in school work. Is learning the primary goal... or entertainment? I have my work cut out for me. Let us all pray. :D So much for getting to bed early. Share your thoughts with me on education. I need some suggestions. Maybe I really am just getting old.
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