tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2624023009363672469.post4946598153293055076..comments2024-03-09T02:14:18.883-08:00Comments on The Horace Mann League: In Defense of ConstructivismAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05665119284861633623noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2624023009363672469.post-48243939453050851202012-12-27T08:12:57.684-08:002012-12-27T08:12:57.684-08:00Well, having just retired from 50 years of teachin...Well, having just retired from 50 years of teaching children and teaching teachers, practicing and promoting the notion that students learn best when engaged and motivated, it was a treat to have the above article forwarded to me today.<br /><br />I began to teach in the early 1960s, in the UK, then the haven of what US educators called Open Education. I ran workshops for EDC and other establishments across the US, and, in 1970, opened The Mountain View Center for Environmental education, with colleague and life time friend, David Hawkins. I was the Head of two schools in England before retiring and then setting up teacher education programs in the US.<br /><br />I have a bookcase full of pictures and letters from students of all ages (including a class I taught this summer, where, at 70, I was the youngest person in the room) that express delight and excitement for the joy of learning - when the process is authentic.<br /><br />How I sympathise with those teachers who do not have ownership of what they teach (or how they teach, for that matter), who are instructed to teach to the tests, who have to forgo the delight of seeing the joy of discovery and learning in a student's eyes.<br /><br />And I do my best, one on one, to support those who want to do their best for the students in their care.<br /><br />Thank you, Author. It's nice to know that I am not the only one who knows that currently, education has it wrong.John Paullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02902196792436562902noreply@blogger.com