Joy, I read your post and felt nostalgic about my own (very similar) childhood. There is one component that you didn't write about, but I would bet the farm that it was included in your upbringing. God. Hasn't His presence changed/been reduced in our schools? I too feel the test pressure this year; I FEAR it. Maybe we fear too much because we don't have God as much. Thanks, Cindy
Joy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: After reading the posts written about lack of passion in children's lives, lack of being able to find connections that will bring learning alive for them, I feel a need to respond. I do not blame testing or NCLB. I don't blame teachers or parents, or the educational system in our country. I blame society and fear. Fear is a mighty force to overcome. Look at the things children are taught to fear: the environment, terrorists, their neighbors, their families, their classmates. Everywhere they look there is something to be afraid of. Even at school we have over regulated things so much that my school has only 1 small piece of playground equipment. I've been told we will never have swings because of the high insurance rates, and the fear of being sued. The state has forbidden for us to play certain games that I remember from childhood - we can actually lose our teaching license if we are caught playing or allowing these games to be played at school! Parents are afraid for the safety of their children; sometimes the fears are justified, sometimes they are not. When I was a child I was allowed to roam the neighborhood. I could wander through the woods, hike along a stream, or fish in a lake, river, or pond. We thought nothing of walking through other people's lawns to get to our friends house, or of hopping on our bikes and riding for hours on end. My friends and I used to ride all over town, and when I visited my cousin's house in Raleigh or Richmond, we walked by ourselves to the movie theater or shopping center. I was lucky to live in a variety of cities, and no matter where we lived, this was true for myself and my friends. We didn't have adult supervised activities, or sports (well, there was Little League for boys). And yes there were arguments, fights, bumps and bruises, and even a few broken bones. But we worked it out amongst ourselves as best we could. Usually the hurt party would run home, get patched up, and return to the "scene of the crime" as quickly as possible. Much to the dismay of our moms, many of us would ignore scrapes, scratches, and busted up knees until we heard our moms calling us to come home for lunch or dinner. (OK, the broken bones did require adult intervention.) We didn't have video games, videos, boom boxes, CDs, Walkman, etc. You were the envy of the neighborhood if you had an AM transistor radio or a color TV. There was no cable, and only about 3 or 4 stations. (OK, now you know I grew up with the pioneers!) Most of the time we either played cards, board games, or we made up our own games and role played from our own imaginations. A favorite activity of mine was making a variety show for the neighborhood. We'd create little skits, then scour our homes for cast off clothing and props. Sometimes the play would change based on what we found. We'd sing, dance, and play tennis racket guitars. We'd do magic tricks, and tell lame jokes. We'd use someone's garage or clothes line for a stage. We'd promote our show by painting posters that we'd plaster up and down the street, and sell tickets door to door to our neighbors. On show day we'd prepare treats to sell. We made enough money from ticket sales in the neighborhood to keep us in penny candy for the entire summer. When we were in the woods we'd always stumble on something fascinating that would occupy us for hours. We'd bring home pieces of moss, rocks, sticks, tadpoles, caterpillars, you name it, we studied it. Drawing and painting were also fun pass times, as was reading. We had a favorite tree or corner in someone's house where we'd stop playing and just read for awhile. None of us ever went anywhere without a book. We also had chores, and family duties to perform. If we didn't do it, it didn't get done, and the family would do without. I learned to clean everything from the kitchen and bathroom to the garage and garden before I was in 1st grade. I had to help my mom prepare dinner every night. We rarely went out to eat, and everything was made from scratch, or very close. We didn't have microwaves, and frozen dinners were something we ate if we had a babysitter. When I wasn't helping my mom, I was working alongside my dad as he built or repaired things. I was the oldest, and was his "right hand (wo)man." I learned the names of tools, and how to use them by his side. (My dad was in sales and marketing, but loved tinkering around the house.) I don't see kids doing these things anymore. Before I returned to college to become a teacher I was a Girl Scout troop leader and adult trainer. One day when we were practicing skills for camping I discovered that the only kid in our troop who could cut and peel vegetables, measure ingredients, or understand how to follow a simple recipe was my daughter. None of the other girls could do any of this, they were especially clueless about measuring ingredients. They had quite a time learning how to do this! When I ran our county's day camp I discovered that girls wouldn't try to do anything because they'd never been allowed to try anythings they couldn't be 100% successful with. They weren't allowed to touch tools. They didn't know how to hold a hammer, or even how to sweep! I actually had a mom get upset with me because each girl had a job helping to clean up after meals. She didn't want her daughter cleaning up after other people. She told me she does everything for her daughter and didn't think it was appropriate for me to ask her or any of the girls to do these tasks. Now that I'm a teacher, I see this too. Parents doing way too much for their kids, not allowing them to struggle with anything. To me they are sending a silent message to their kids that they think they are incompetent. The kids hear the message loud and clear and truly believe they can't do anything. This is why I stopped sending projects home, and started having the kids complete all their project work at school. They get less done, and the projects look like kids did them. (I think that is good, my parents aren't so crazy about it because the other teachers still have major parts of their projects done at home and they come back slick and "professional" looking, while ours have that "kid made" look with all their developmental flaws hanging out.) Parents need training on how to give appropriate levels of help, and what to expect from their children. We are teaching children to rely too much on others for their entertainment and sense of worth. My grandmother used to encourage me to find my own entertainment by telling me: "Only boring people are bored, and you are not a boring person, go outside and figure out something for yourself." I'd grumble, but usually found something to do that would have me engrossed for the rest of the day. Kids develop passion when they are allowed to try things and take risks. So what if your rocket is crooked and the paint doesn't look airbrushed. Can you get it off the ground? If it fails, do you have the guts to try it again and again and again? Can you figure out how to repair it without a jaunt to the quickie mart, or are you afraid to tell anyone about what you've done because you'll face ridicule for failure? Winston Churchill said "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself." How can we as a society make the world a less fearsome place for our children? How can we encourage them to take risks, to fail, and to try again? How can we encourage more imaginative play? More active play? More investigative play? Can we let go of the apron strings long enough for our children to learn about themselves? I inscribed the inside of my college ring with Socrates' philosophy "Know Thyself." Can we allow children the time to do this for themselves? Until our society changes, we educators will have to change our expectations, approaches, and pedagogical style to meet the children where they are when they come to us. Society is changing, but it's not going back to the "good ole days." (Thank goodness, there was lots in those days that wasn't so good, like blatant racism and oppression.) What can we do as teachers to influence our society to help children, to understand children, to "pay it forward" so our society is a better place for children? I don't have answers, only a seeimingly continuous string of questions. If you are still awake, sorry, I'll climb off the soapbox now! Thank you for listening to my stream of conciousness. Your forgiveness for my going off topic in a rant is greatly appreciated! I hope you all have a glorious holiday, and are lucky to be surrounded by family and friends. Happy Holidays, Joy/NC/4 [EMAIL PROTECTED] How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. 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