This article by Laurie Borland was first published on Technorati.com
http://technorati.com/women/article/education-nation-and-the-human-school/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human
http://technorati.com/women/article/education-nation-and-the-human-school/
MSNBC's Teacher Town
Hall meeting, on Saturday, kicked off this week’s 2nd Annual Education Nation
Summit. The town hall meeting was great for best practices and making teachers
feel like they have a voice. Brian Williams, Tamron Hall and Rehema Ellis did a
great job making it look like a prime time venue. Melinda Gates did a wonderful
job discussing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its role to help give
teachers a voice to elicit new pedagogy. With the use of technology, like the
Teacher Wall that was a result of last year’s 1st Summit, they can get a better
handle on what teachers are saying with real time opinions, best practices and
ideas on improving our education system.
One thing I was
disappointed with in regards to the guests at the Teacher Town Hall meeting was
that I didn't see any government representatives; they were to come later in
the week. Every town hall meeting I have seen is always joined with a
government official of sorts.
My main concern is
what really is going to come out of this annual meeting? At first, I was quite
concerned, but as I watched the media throughout this past week, I have seen
how others are beginning to interact and discuss topics with the use of
humanism and results orientated based pedagogy that have already taken place
around the country. We need to continue to strategize and find what works for
the children in each of our communities, but that flexibility needs to exist so
that the job can be done right.
We seem to be getting
closer to a solution. We need to pull together and make our schools a place
where we look at the whole child and remember that they are human. A child who
is not happy is not going to learn well, if at all. The Hawn Foundation,
founded by Goldie Hawn, believes this as well.
We need to find
passionate teachers to do this prestigious job. We need to treat them as the
professionals that they are. We need to make sure they are getting the support
they need for their classroom in regards to technology and budget money so they
can serve the students as effectively as possible. We need to provide the
proper salary so that they can get the continuing education training they need
to advance their mind and pass the innovative idea's they learn along to their
students, allowing them to be the teacher they were meant to be. At times, we
are going to find teachers who aren't doing the job as we expected and there
should be a policy for that. Our children cannot be put at risk because a
teacher is unable to do the job of effective teaching.
The schools of the
future will be called the human schools. As a human race, we have always
pondered questions like "To be or not to be", we have learned to
evolve through language, introspection and problem solving, but we have also
learned to use the higher levels of processing such as self-awareness,
rationality and wisdom. We continue to evolve every day. We need to take what
we have learned and make our education system a place of growth and development
for the human child so that they are able to use their critical thinking skills
to build a brighter tomorrow.
Today, I feel
confident we are moving in the right direction. Many people are standing up
with empathy and passion for this institution we call education. We are
fighting the battle and beginning to win....but there is a long road ahead.
Today, we are moving from not only just talking about issues but to
strategizing and implementing these new ways of teaching while considering the
whole human child....that alone supports continuing evolution. So please, stand
up and let your voice be heard, but be prepared to support your statements and
get dirty trying to rebuild the schools of the future because that is what
being human is all about.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human
Happiness,
or the state of being happy, is a human emotional condition. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving. This mental capability, combined with an erect body carriage
that frees the hands for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far
greater use of tools
than any other living species on Earth. Other higher-level thought processes of
humans, such as self-awareness, rationality, and sapience,[7][8][9] are considered to be defining features of what constitutes a
"person".[10][11]
