By Marie Lardino
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes, but in having new eyes."
- Marcel Proust
Friday was an unusual
day at VIS. It was unusual because our teachers and students took part in an
experiment that touched us all. This
experiment however, was not ours, at least initially. It belonged to fifty pre-service
teachers from the Master of Teaching program at OISE, University of Toronto, who
came to VIS to put several of their pre-planned lessons to the test. The idea
was to observe the delivery of each lesson (or “Lesson Study”) by their peers, who would then give further input and engage in reflection. In order to carry this out, the teacher
candidates took over our classrooms, grade by grade, infusing their teaching style
into our school’s (pre-established) media literacy theme.
Before the lessons
took place, the teacher candidates gathered as a group in our Movement Studio to ask questions about the school. I was touched by the fact that they seemed to embrace our teaching model so wholeheartedly. The first group of candidates seemed captivated by the look,
feel and educational mandate of the school. The second group, who visited
during the afternoon, showed the same enthusiasm. When each group left the building, they seemed encouraged by
the notion that a school has the power to be transformative – for students, as well as for teachers and parents. Once in the classrooms, the passion displayed by
these teacher candidates, their understanding of what the global school can offer children, and their apparent desire to make meaningful change in education, left
me in awe. I’ve been reassured
that Faculties of Ed. such as the OISE’s, MT Program are finding
exceptional teachers, and guiding them toward creating inspiring learning environments that are sure to make a difference.
As for our students, they engaged fully
with each learning opportunity. Although
they love their own teachers, they seemed to love the benefits of having been
taught by teachers who could offer a different perspective. And although they are accustomed to
having a small group of student teachers on an ongoing basis, they
wanted to see 'how' and 'what' other teachers taught. What we didn’t know, was that on Friday, from the youngest fourth grader to the oldest eighth grader, each of them was consciously trying to make a contribution to the 'future' of education. We found this to be the case, because they said
so during a discussion that unfolded at the tail end of the school day. Dr. Susan Schwartz (who teaches MT students) took
furious notes while James in grade 6 said this:
“We
got to see the next generation of teachers, who might be teaching our children, gain
experience teaching first hand”. There were other insightful remarks:
“It’s cool to think that they really got
into it, showed us how to learn, and taught us how they learned’.
But when Cole, (in
grade 8) made the following comment, “VIS people are special and if those teachers learned
from our teachers, and if they go off to other schools, they can change the
schools and how people think of children and education”, Judy
Blaney (who also teaches in the MT Program) turned and glanced at me with a look of disbelief.
Such is the kid
equipped with critical thinking skills! They see beyond what is immediate: they
can evaluate the potential of good teaching, and see themselves capable of
contributing their insights toward a preferred future for schooling. So in the end, my question became: who
was teaching whom? And most likely, who was evaluating whom and toward what goal?
So the idea that our students began to
own this ‘experiment” was inspiring for me. As for the most profound lesson gained by these promising
teacher candidates, my view is that it was primarily one of ‘humility’. What one might think can't be learned from
kids, can.
I admire teachers who
are open-minded. And I cherish the
idea that there are people in this world who recognize that learning is a reciprocal
endeavour -- a shared gift.
As for me, my lesson
was that there is hope for tomorrow. If today is any indication of what is to come, there is a growing number of teachers out there who are ready and willing to embrace
the ‘big idea’ in education. All
we had to do is ask the kids!
