So much time is spent in schools planning curricula. It’s like a bunch of chefs back in the kitchen trying to find the right menu to please the customers. They think that if they just serve the right food, their restaurant will be a success.
Maybe that’s true for the chefs, but education doesn’t function that way. Children have to feel wanted. They have to feel that they matter in the group. Only then will the curriculum work. We sit in so many meetings that focus on curricula and professional development, but the real PD is in personalizing the classroom and on building inclusion in our classrooms.
Professor Clarcq has been lecturing on this for some time, but few CI teachers seem to listen. They think that since we have an exponentially better way to teach and that if we just master the mechanics of it, then our kids will learn. It’s not true.
Yes, our CI curricula are much tastier than a textbook, full of flavor, because we use fresh produce that is organically grown, but if we don’t serve up our lessons with personalized interest in those who come into our restaurants, even if our food is delicious, we will not have happy customers. That’s why many people can cook food, but few can teach.
Funny thing about kids. They need to know that the adults in their lives care about them. Yes, they want tasty food, but really they don’t know or care about the difference between a textbook and a story. When we focus on the latter at the expense of building community in our classrooms, we will just get more of what we’ve had for the past hundred years.