Now what?

Today we had our last visit of this trip: Parker High, a highschool in Boston.

This was the first high school we’ve seen, and it really had the CES-principles inbedded in their way of teaching. I saw great things again today. In classes, I spoke with students and teachers. All were so enthusiastic about school. I got to participate with kids in some very cool exercises, which were a lot of fun.

Fun in school. That’s what was so clearly seen throughout the whole day! What makes everyone so happy to be here? Parker is a community, it’s a family. Teachers, students and parents work together to keep Parker an awesome place.

In my opinion students stay happy, because they are each challenged at their own level. They also recieve the time, space and trust, to make the skills their own. At Parker, they don’t believe in filling children’s heads with knowledge. They believe in them needing to aquire a set of skills. When these skills are met, and they proved them to be met to the standards set by the school, they can transfer to a higher division.

That’s something I would love to see at home. Not to think in testing knowledge, think in testing skills.

These skills, which are the goals that apply to all students, are clearly visible throughout the school. We could really learn from that!

But now we’re done for this week. And though I would love to change the whole world of education, or the school, or my classroom, or just the life of one student… first I will need some time to take a break, reflect on all good I saw and speak with collegues about wishes, dreams, ambition and possibilities. There surely are a lot of those!

Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in 01: Learning to use one’s mind well, 02: Less is more, depth over coverage, 03: Goals apply to all students, 04: Personalization, 05: Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach, 07: Demonstration of mastery;, 08: Commitment to the entire school, Reisblogs