"the function of education"

During independent practice of a math lesson earlier this week, a student asked me, "why do I need to learn this?" [We were learning how addition & subtraction were related to each other (fact families), & practicing how to find all number sentences given 3 related numbers.]

After explaining why knowing how to use addition & subtraction, he smiled & said "OK." Quickly, he went back to work, while I thought about what had just happened.

A big part of teaching content is explaining why the learning is important. How will these kids use this knowledge in the future? My class is motivated to learn, but I know they would work even harder if I made more of an effort to set purpose during lessons.

Teaching is not just about content mastery. This MLK quote captures what it's all about. As this semester has come to a close, I'll take the winter break reflect upon how to teach the "whole" child.

ICEpocolypse

ICEpocolypse canceled school this past Friday, December 6th, & I believe teachers were more thrilled than students…I know I was! After prepping for an uber important observation Thursday (which ended up being canceled at around 12:30 a.m. Thursday), as well as other usual teacher tasks, I mentally needed a day off!

@emirolla

My days in ICEolation have meant lots of Netflix (Scandal + House of Cards) / cleaning / catching up on school work. NOTHING is open because the icy roads make driving nearly impossible. DFW just doesn't have the materials to handle this type of weather. & while ICEmaggedon has provided a nice vacation from real life, I'm hoping the roads will be better for school tomorrow…assuming we actually have school tomorrow. Roads are still VERY bad.

@j_jimenez

Each workday I venture towards east Berry to get to work. I see a drastic change along the drive from my TCU neighborhood to Stop Six. Besides the difference in infrastructure, I see a lot of people outside, walking. Less cars, more people walking to school, work…more homelessness.

On my mind are my students in/near stop 6. I hope their houses are warm enough, that they have enough blankets to stay covered, that their parents were not called into work during this awful weather, & that their food supply has been big enough. I hope school is not canceled tomorrow, because school might be more cozy than home to these kids during this time. Fingers crossed DFW can take care of the ice today.