Personalization
Teaching and learning should be personalized to the maximum feasible extent.
December’s CES Common Principle
Student-as-worker, Teacher-as-coach
The governing practical metaphor of the school should be student-as-worker, rather than the more familiar metaphor of teacher-as-deliverer-of-instructional-services.
January’s CES Common Principle
My father was raised by a cattle rancher. Although they lived in the city during the winter months, in the summertime his family lived and worked on the Alberta prairie. Dad was a diligent farm hand, but never aspired to be a rancher. He was a scholar and poet with teaching in his blood, and he eventually became a professor. But he often drew lessons from those hot dusty summers as both teacher and parent.
He told me that once when he was just six or seven years old his father asked him to take two large work horses to the trough for some water. These were huge animals, Clydesdales, and my dad remembered looking at their hoofs, seeing that each one was as big around as his face. He was terrified by their size and power, and not at all sure that he could get them safely to water and back. But he also knew that his father knew his strengths and limitations, that he was a skillful rancher, and that he would not have given my dad the job if he did not think he could do it. He took those horses to the trough and back, still scared, but ultimately confident and proud.
I think of this story often as I watch our students and teachers at work. We ask students to do difficult, often daunting tasks. Sometimes they feel overwhelmed, but remember that true learning takes place in that space just beyond comfort, the “zone of proximal development”. Our students thrive in these challenges only when they are confident that we know them well, their strengths and their limitations, what they’re capable of accomplishing, and when we are ever-present as coaches, giving them the skills, confidence, and encouragement they need to be successful.
Your input and feedback are vital to personalization. You know your students best! Please continue to share your insights and observations with us as we strive to create a truly personalized learning experience for each student. And on those long nights before a project deadline or a chapter test, remember that you are also a coach and cheerleader, providing encouragement and guidance. Ultimately, our students must learn how to learn independently, but when we stay with them through the difficult times, they become more able to take risks and discover their gifts.
I want to thank you sincerely for your regular communication and feedback, and for the time and energy you give to your students and to the school. I wish you a joyful and abundant holiday season.
Marni A. Campbell, Principal
Evidence of students as workers?
Drama students direct themselves with hilarious results:
Student leaders at work:
