the PaperWings

This I believe: If we are to have a hand in a future peace, we must not teach to only transform children’s way of being right now when they are under our care, but we must always teach towards Forever- when they have long since passed for the last time through our classroom doors and into the world. Plan for Forever? Affect what children do, not only on the weekends, but how they handle themselves at a corporate meeting? That’s a tall bill. We’re used to planning for next week, next month. Some of us plan on a yearly scale. But how do we plan for Forever, so that what we teach isn’t just a teeny blip on a child’s life radar? Here are some key words I test against my teaching points and lessons: · Transparency- do children easily see why we are doing this? · Relevance- how will this help children outside the walls of this classroom? · Applicability- is how I’m teaching this idea going to apply to later life in a meaningful, useful way? Teaching children to talk well...

Regardless of your political or religious affiliation, cultural background, gender, or moral views, you cannot dispute that we live in volatile times. Across the globe, humans struggle with hunger, war, and disease on a daily basis. Some of it will touch us in America and some of it is only a quiet, unread newspaper headline. While all of this happens, each new generation of children is educated, graduates, and takes their place among the leaders of our country, while their teachers either capitalize upon or neglect opportunities to affect the future of this earth. Although teachers cannot teach their students everything there is to know about the economic reasons for food shortage, the underlying tensions that begin modern day wars, and the insidious disparities that leave some countries ravaged by disease, they can do something exponentially more important. They can teach children how to care, to listen, and to act. More powerful than teaching an impossibly infinite list of...

"Excuse me! Please save your chatting for the playground." "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" "Shhhhhh!" "I'm waiting."   Memories. When I was in elementary school, it seemed like the sole role of the teacher was to keep the class industriously working in silence. I was your typical teacher-pleaser type, so I hardly ever spoke out of turn, and if I did, I did with fear in my heart. For if I uttered a word, I knew the teacher would shine a spotlight on me-- "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"-- making me an example to everyone else: here is a student doing something that is not a school behavior. Talking-- bad. Quiet obedience-- good. End of story? Well, not quite. Then came college... In college, professors prodded the students- most of whom went through a talk-less, opinion-less schooling, like me. They posed intriguing questions, they pushed their unwilling le...