What did you say?

I can hear the question some of you are asking after my last blog post.

"What? You don't want your child to go to school? Aren't you a teacher at a Christian School?"

Indeed I am. Not just any school either. In fact, I work at a good school, a very good school, an exceptional school even.

We have a vibrant and healthy supportive community, many engaged and committed parents, a visionary school board, a dedicated and innovative leadership team, incredible staff members, and wonderful students. We have a great building that's full, healthy finances, plenty of resources, and so much more.

My fellow teachers are skilled practitioners of their craft, with plenty of creativity to go along with it. I'm watching our grade 7 English teacher lead her students through a wonderful exercise where they interact with seniors and write their life stories. I am amazed at our grade 8 teacher's depth of experience and easy camaraderie with his students, our VP teaches wonderful hands on lessons in his classes and supports us in so many ways through his gifts with tools, and that's only the first two classrooms at my end of the building. I could go on and on naming each staff member and the amazing gifts they bring to our staff.

My son is in grade 1 with a highly skilled teacher from whom he is learning so much. My middle daughter will be entering Kindergarten next year and there are two fantastic teachers she might get. I'm actually torn because I'd love for her to have both of them, but she'll only get one.

So what's my problem?

I think Sir Ken Robinson explains it best:

When I think of my children entering this factory model of education that's why I don't want them to go to school. Except that the school is the best choice we have at the moment. (We entertained homeschooling, but it just won't work for us.)

Our school is a very good school. In fact, I wouldn't want my children to go to any other school. But my school is going to struggle to provide the kind of challenges and supports to help my children to grow to their fullest potential. Let alone the many other children who enter our classrooms every day who have an even wider array of gifts, talents, and challenges. Each child is so unique and our "one size fits all" model of schooling doesn't leave much room for their development.

How could we get away from the factory model of education? What would that look like? How could we create new kinds of schools and learning experiences that would allow for each child to grow and develop to their greatest potential?

These are the questions that circle my mind every day. These are the things I think about as I work in my classroom with my students.

I don't have answers, just lots of questions.