In Education, Not all that Shines is Gold

           The Modeling –Based (Flipped) Professional Development at Rutgers University by Dr. Lodge McCammon and Self-Directed Learning Fundamentals by Dr. Perter Gray videos are very interesting because of the contents they focus on. However, they are controversial if we connect the dots of their philosophy concepts and the reality of students in low income communities to be academically successful in the trend of the society.   It is no secret that collaboration, creativity, participation, and learning by doing improves communication and effectiveness in the learning process. It creates an authentic learning environment and it is part of the human nature to develop the brain.  However, the bottleneck in classrooms is the dosage of the strategies and the interpretation of the “self-pace” in the execution of the lessons by the teacher.  I knew two excellent kindergarten teachers in a title I school, who used active learning strategies. However, at the end of each academic year, one of them reached in average a level 8 in reading and writing on 90% of the students. While the other reach a level 5 on average. This difference created better opportunities for those students on level 8 for the coming (elementary) years vs the students on level 5.  

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            The self –direction Learning Fundamental by Peter Gray, rhetorically sounds possible (Free schools Movement) “Education is the child’s responsibility, when children know that they are responsible for their education, they take responsibility”. However, I believe that a child’s development is similar to a bird’s growing stages. We cannot skip any stages with kids because it would be like pretending that a bird would fly before getting feathers.  The responsibility of a child’s education is linked to the family’s expectations, the tools of the culture, and the school strategies to guide the student accurately. We can see this reflected on our school or district data between Asian, Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian communities and observe the differences and how this is a clear indicator of their academic projection.  Human beings depend on their cultural transmission.  As an adult or teacher, we have the responsibility to facilitate those opportunities to develop their passion; to help them reach their goals in democratic ways, reaching meaningful lives.  In short, we cannot leave the responsibility of education to the children only, we are part of this responsibility; especially in economically disadvantaged communities. Allowing students all the opportunities to explore, cultivate curiosity, and creativity on one hand. On the other hand, as influencers, we must teach and engage students in poverty with practical strategies. Encouraging them every day, to go to the university and improve their lives. Not just focus on the training for the standardized test.  How can we do this in the daily whirlwind?