Daily Blog Challenge Day 133/365
I have a two year old niece, who has brought a joy to my family's life (like all children should). She is full of curiosity, determination, energy and attention to detail; she fills the house with laughter and happiness. I am constantly amazed at how quickly she learns and which information she holds onto.
Life is all about learning from failure and it is a vital lesson for our students to learn. When I watch my niece, I see a child who is determined. She spent months learning how to master the skill of rolling over, which led to crawling and eventually walking. She did not give up when she fell repeatedly.
She loves to imitate what she sees and hears (I know this is a normal/expected behavior), but I am still amazed at how accurately she imitates others. One of my other sisters had foot surgery last year and spent a few months in a boot, so she had to hop around. After a week, my niece was hopping around on one foot like Aunt Kakey. She also pretends to hold a phone and fake laughs just like her mother. These are just a few of the countless examples of her remembering what others have done in the past and doing it herself.
After spending a week at Christmas with her and being filled with even more examples of her learning I started wondering what happens to these characteristics (curiosity, determination, energy and attention to detail). These characteristics seem to be something she was born with, for it is not something her mother or my family has taught her. She is not in school yet, but is still learning a variety of concepts and skills.
Does school kill these characteristics in our children?
I know it is not our intention, but I think we create some of our own problems. It is clear to me that most children are born with the desire to learn. It is our job as educators to make sure we are encouraging this desire.
I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for reading.
I have struggled with this same thought for a long time. Why do we kill that natural desire to learn? I have seen it happen over and over again. I think the project based learning and genius hour ideas may help in some regard. I also think if we could change the age/grade groupings we have could help too. Would it be possible to have schools that grouped according to passion and interests without having the stigmas of older children working along side younger ones?
ReplyDeleteMavis, I wonder about different age groupings too. It seemed to work in the "old days." One room school houses were setup in this way. I think it would be a hard sell, but I definitely see some positives. I also agree that PBL and genius hour help reaffirm a love for learning.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments!