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June
June
The state of Colorado has adopted new content standards and have now been in the process of getting the word out to districts how they are different from the old standards….and they are vastly different. The old standards for all content areas read more like a check-off list or for my purpose in this blog, a recipe. I am assuming that other state’s standards are similar. The new ones are written with much more freedom in mind for the delivery of the subject/content and how teachers and administrators react to them will tell whether or not they want their teachers tto be cooks or chefs.
One can be a good cook. I have met several good cooks and enjoyed their food, but what is the difference between a cook and a chef? A cook merely, follows the recipe. A cook merely replicates the creativity of another person. The food may turn out delicious. This is the premise that chain restaurants are built on. The problem is that after a while the diner gets weary of eating the same things on the menu all the time. A chef on the other hand is always creating new and delicious and exciting food. The diner may not like the taste of everything served but would know probably still return to eat again at the establishment because next time it will be different and with that is the ever possibility that it will be delicious again. Are you seeing any correlation to the diners and our students?
Teachers have relied on the ever present teacher’s manual’s for teaching their content. They are asked to draw up pacing guides and curriculum maps. District’s purchase text books and materials from supposedly reputable and reliable education companies that tout they have the research to back up that theirs is the answer to educating our students – the perfect recipe. The new way the Colorado standards are written does not give you the recipe any more. It is a little bit like the cooking contest shows on the food network. The “chef” is given ingredients and told to make something wonderful from it. Sometimes it is great and sometimes it isn’t. Rarely, could it even be duplicated exactly twice.
And what about the quality of ingredients? How does that impact the final culinary delight? If the milk is sour, you wouldn’t put it in the recipe just because it called for it. You would need to find a substitution or change the recipe in some way to compensate. Isn’t that what good teachers do for kids? All students don’t come to class with the same “expiration date” either. Good teaching compensates for that and makes adjustments.
If the end product I am aiming for is a peanut butter sandwich, I can either follow the recipe or test my culinary skills by experimenting with it. Try sliced bananas on the sandwich, use different breads, try almond butter instead of peanut butter, etc.
We have relied on a prescribed recipe for learning far too long. The industrial age of “cookie cutter” education is over and we need to embrace new frontiers in education. I for one am grateful that the new standards afford the luxury of using creativity in instruction. I love that it isn’t just an ingredients list for a recipe for success. I also realize this makes some teachers and administrators nervous because there is risk in trying new things and not having the safety net of the “check off list” of facts covered. Will every dish be wonderful? Will every child succeed? No, but practice does make perfect. Teachers will learn to trust their own adjustments in instruction if they keep the end goal in mind and not just the short-term check off list chore. And….they will get better at it. By not having to be tied to a teacher’s manual or pacing guide, they will regain and develop their skills of taking their cue from the students. Just as a chef tastes his concoction along that way and adjusts, so will teachers be able to figure out what works best for students. I hope all districts and administrators will allow them to deviate from the old “recipes”s for learning so that the end result can be a wonderful culinary delight and a unique and one of a kind masterpiece that may or may not be able to be replicated again, and not just the same old, albeit somewhat tasty but boring dish on the menu.
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