I have recently had a few things on my mind about something that I feel strongly about. Too often it is heard leave school at school and home at home. There is no bridge between school and the outside world. Please understand that I am not stating my position on homework, or out of class assignments. I will be the first to tell you that I rarely did homework in school, and I am just beginning to break these tendencies today. I am talking about making connections. I believe that there is a lack of real world connections available in the classrooms to real life problems. My vision is to build the bridge that connects the worlds. Not just a connections between school and world, but interconnect disciplines. Why should I learn math? Why should I study science? Is there a purpose for me to study English, the language I have spoken since birth? These questions go too often unanswered. I never saw the purpose of school until I saw my own path and the need for knowledge. I do not believe that the sole purpose of the teacher is to apply their content to each and every student and to all other contents, but I do believe it is their responsibility to guide students down this path.
I myself grew up in agriculture. The experiences that I have had and the life I have lived have guided me to a career as a high school agricultural teacher. I have grown to appreciate what is offered when a complete agricultural program is offered at a high school. I am not professing that agriculture is on everyone's top interests list, or maybe I am--but I do believe that an agricultural program offers a great example on giving students real world connections to something that is applicable, and even of interest to students. A complete Ag Ed program will incorporate classroom instructions, FFA activities, and SAE (supervised agricultural experience). In high school, I rented 25 acres next to my dad's farm as part of my SAE project. I worked on the farm with my dad and he let me use his equipment as my wage. It worked well. I learned the value of work and the incentives of hard work and dedication. It taught me things that I wasn't able to learn in school, but it also helped me have the desire to learn what was being taught at school. I payed more attention in my ag classes because I wanted my farm to be successful. It helped me connect what I was being taught in class to real world issues pertinent to me. This experience helped me become better at not only Ag classes, but also my core classes. Every student needs to have something that they can apply knowledge to. This doesn't mean that everyone should go out and rent 25 acres of farm ground, but every student needs to apply their knowledge and learning to their own interests. If a student is interested in drawing maybe one of their reflections on a reading assignment could be a drawing instead of a written reflection. If a student is interested in mechanics why not let them explore the vast amount of science in that field. There is not a one size fits all approach to teaching and learning. Adaptation is not only necessary in different eras, but also different students in a given era. Let the student take control of their education, and the teacher be the guide rather than the enforcer.
I may or may not have answered the actual question on what this blog post was intended to cover, but have I reflected on education? Am I meeting the objective of the assignment? I say that I am. Isn't that the real purpose of the assignment and all assignments?
My hope is that I can provide this type of learning to my students. All students are taught, but do all students learn what is being taught?
I may or may not have answered the actual question on what this blog post was intended to cover, but have I reflected on education? Am I meeting the objective of the assignment? I say that I am. Isn't that the real purpose of the assignment and all assignments?
My hope is that I can provide this type of learning to my students. All students are taught, but do all students learn what is being taught?
