Common, Yet Compelling

This week, I have the privilege of welcoming Ken Rockwell into my home. Well... not literally, but as I set about reading his article, I felt as if I was engaged in a casual conversation over a cup of tea. Of course, he set out sharing about his passion for photography, but I thought the article was amazingly applicable to education.

What would happen if, in the introduction, references to photography were changed to education? Would it make sense?

"EDUCATION is the power of observation, not the application of technology." Leslee Rupp

How have I made my best LEARNING MOMENTS? By noticing something cool and TEACHING THE TOPIC. The important part is noticing something cool. TEACHING THE TOPIC is easy.

Your TEXTBOOK has nothing to do with making great LEARNING MOMENTS. you have to master technique (AND CONTENT), of course, but that's just a burden to get out of the way to free yourself to tackle the really hard part. The hard part is saying something with your CONTENT.

EDUCATION is art. It's abstract. Therefore it's difficult for many people to grasp. It's easy and lazy to think a TEXTBOOK makes the LEARNING MOMENT. It's easy to blame bad LEARNING MOMENTS on a TEXTBOOK. When you get better you'll realize you would have been better off to pay more attention to your STUDENTS and less to your TEXTBOOK.

Adapted from Ken Rockwell's website http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/howto.htm

Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch, but... I think many of us do rely on texts and technology and technique when teaching rather than studying our students and seizing teachable moments that will excite and endure.

The notion of excitement is one Rockwell raised when he stated, "Photography is communicating passion and sparking excitement in te mind and body of another person." Once again, I think EDUCATION could be appropriately substituted in this sentence. This is certainly one of the greatest challenges teachers face, but how can we communicate passion to and spark excitement in our students? Even more, how can we identify passions and tap into the excitement of our students? Is this not a responsibility we bear? I don't recall seeing that class listed in the required course list for my teacher education program, though. Do you know a sure-fire strategy for accomplishing that in our classrooms? Or, ought we continue to follow the advice of Rockwell and, "Forget Technique!" "Follow Your Own Vision!" "See Don't Just Look!" "Convey Your Feelings!" and "Ask Not Why Something Is Here, But How To Make It Meaningful!"? Will this make learning more compelling?

And, what about the statement, "Brilliance doesn't work on a schedule." How often do we hear that certain subjects must be addressed within a certain time frame in order to "cover the curriculum"? Where is the wonderment in that? Brilliance doesn't even have time to begin never mind shine.