Monday, April 15, 2019

I'll admit I may be closed minded on this subject


Rosebro2 has his driver’s permit. Just pause for a moment and say a prayer for me and all drivers and pedestrians in Spartanburg County.  Saturday the Rose party of 3 went “trying out” cars. It is time that I retire the Honda Pilot after 11 great years and 200,000+ miles. But before I purchase my next car, I need the Rosebros to sit in my top 3 choices for replacements. My growing boys need room- room for their legs and room away from each other. On our little trek Saturday, I allowed Rosebro2 to drive. It was so very interesting how Rosebro1 reacted. He has been driving all of 18 months and he acted as if he possessed the best driving skills and he reacted to each one of his brother’s mistakes as if they were life threatening. I mean, really, at one point he got out of the car and kissed the ground. They continued on Sunday morning to/from church as well.
I had finally had enough of big brother demeaning “little brother” and asked Rosebro1 to tone down his criticism. Jokingly, or not, he looked at me and asked “would you rather he learn from me or would you rather he learn from an insurance bill?”  He had a point. He has had a wreck and has to pay me the difference in his before wreck and post wreck insurance premiums.  Somewhere between Wade’s and home, I watched and listened to my boys. While Rosebro1 isn’t always as nice as I wish, I saw real teaching. I saw a partnership. I saw one listening and one instructing. I saw learning.
It got me thinking about something that I’ve typed a million times but deleted. I have thought about and thought about and I know it will be an unpopular opinion. Watching my boys in the front seat of the car while I was in the back (and honestly I couldn’t remember a time I’ve been in the back seat), I realized my “why” again in teaching. I teach because I love watching students learn something new. I love taking a skill and making it come alive for a student. I love watching their faces as they figure out how to do something. I love making history come alive. I love watching science become real. I love showing students how to grow as writers. I love the discussion of literature. I love watching confidence grow. I love being a part of the energy of learning.
This is where I feel strongly that what I don’t love is teacher pay teacher. Now, please understand I don’t slight anyone who has purchased or who sells anything on teacher pay teacher. I don’t really. My issue with teacher pay teacher is the big idea not individuals who have purchased or sold here and there.  I generally lack creativity and “cuteness” so the draw to TPT is one that I, at first, enjoyed. Then I realized that what I don’t like is the idea of paying others for worksheets. First off, I believe, strongly-really strongly that our most valuable resource that we have in education is, well, each other. Worksheets from the internet isn’t that. And if worries me that we “share” a resource such as that without having those strong pedagogical discussions with each other.  I then think about the fact that Sir Ken Robinson, my favorite Ted Talk guru, stated that “education thrives on partnership and collaboration.” In some ways you can think of TPT as a collaboration, but I don’t see it as one. I see it driving us away from collaboration. The final reason I don’t love TPT is that a lot of what I see on TPT is work. It isn’t teaching. It is work for students, but I don’t see the heart of teaching, the art of teaching.
 Perhaps I am missing the point or maybe I am a little closed minded on this subject-and I would more than willing to listen to other viewpoints. But as I watched Rosebro 1 teach Rosebro2 how to drive, my first thought was “thank God he isn’t learning this from a worksheet.”  He has a teacher, albeit a critical one, but he has a teacher who has motivation to help him grow and get it right. Rosebro2’s teacher is watching him, watching over him. He is guiding his every move until the day comes when he can do it on his own. That, folks, we can’t buy on teacher pay teacher.

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