Dedicated to two friends who are retiring from the
field of education this month.
I
wonder –
How
quickly does time go by? Sometimes does it seem like you just started on this
journey of working with students? Or does it seem like you’ve done this “school
stuff” for a long time. After all, there have been quite a few changes that
have taken place in the field of education since you began your career.
Consider:
- You started out using
chalkboards, eventually moved to whiteboards, and now we have document
cameras and projectors in the classroom.
- When you began your
teaching career, you used workbooks or typed worksheets on dittos with a
typewriter, and got purple ink all over your hands while making copies on
the ditto machine. Do you ever miss that? Or do you appreciate the
professional-looking computer-printed activity sheets you can make now?
- In the 70s, you
utilized filmstrips and movie projectors as a way to share information
with your students. Now you can use video clips, record the students, and
make your own videos. (No more tangled movie reels!)
- The primary means for
finding information back then was going to the library and looking it up
in an encyclopedia. Now, finding answers to questions is quick and easy
with online discovery and “google.”
- Communicating with
parents has turned to email rather than the evening phone call or note
sent home.
- Instead of decorating
the classroom/hall displays with homemade pictures enlarged and traced
with an opaque projector, now we’re able to purchase things online or make
“cutesy” things with the aid of pinterest.
- Although we still
have fire drills, we’ve moved from the “Duck and Cover” drills of the 70s
to lockdown drills – and occasionally a real lockdown.
- And, possibly the biggest change, instead of using only paper and pencils, we now use the ipad for creating and practice as well.
After
all, you’ve experienced a number of changing trends in the past almost-40
years:
- phonics – look say –
whole language – balanced literacy – zoo phonics
- traditional math –
new math – math their way – new new math – investigations – back to
traditional math … ?
- month-long integrated
themes, compartmentalized subjects
- workshop way -
centers – daily five
- lesson objectives –
outcomes-based - learning targets & standards based
- whole group – small groups – flexible groups – individual instruction
But,
although there have been a lot of changes in the field of education; there are
some things that have stayed the same in these many years.
- meetings – grade
level, building, district, curriculum. etc.
- making lesson plans
- standardized tests (names may change, but tests remain)
And,
most important –
The
love you each have for kids. Showing them you care, praying with them, meeting
their needs (academic, emotional, and spiritual), and sharing the love of God
with them. This has never changed. From different grades and courses taught,
states lived in (California, Iowa, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Michigan), and
even different clothes/hair styles through the years (I wish I had pictures!) –
you have each lived out God’s calling in your lives to teach and share God’s
love with students. Through all the changes in education that have come and
that will come in the future, this remains a worthy goal in Christian
education:
to
nurture the hearts of children,
to
equip their minds
and
show them how to transform the world
for
Jesus Christ!
From one educator to another - Thanks
for your work and thanks for loving kids. I wish both of you God’s continued
blessings.
