I am given a
curriculum map
To guide me
and my students
through the wilderness
of knowledge and learning
I observe the map
look at the neat straight
paths through tangled thoughts
Can it really be this easy?
Will following this map
faithfully
lead me
and (more importantly)
my students
to the secret treasure
of understanding?
I've always preferred to
follow Frost rather than I-85
The little side trips
The dead ends and
turn arounds
the hidden treasures uncovered
along the way
have always seemed more
valuable
I have always appreciated
the trip
more than
the destination
And so I look again
at the map
at the safe way
the "sure" way
figured out by "experts"
who have never met my students
never even heard of them
I smile ruefully
quietly
fold it up
put it away
Knowledge
and its acquisition
is never safe
nor sure
And getting it
And getting to it
is more
than 1/2 the fun
©2008-Art Belliveau
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4 comments:
Your words are so true Art. I'll willfully participate in curriculum writing this summer before I enter my second full year of teaching, but I know that this "map" can't even come close to predicting and deciding what needs to be done in my classroom with my students. I'm wondering if classroom teachers in your district are invited to help with curriculum...?
This is only my third year in the system, but not so far. Of course, I am allowed to create my own curriculum for my writing classes. That is a very good thing for me. It allows me to explore those strange trails my students and I come across. The English class is a little more structured, but I still feel a great deal of freedom. I just got a case of the willies recently when I heard someone mention the words "curriculum map."
Art,
Lovely my friend. Much here that is telling about schools, and children, and helping them become adults. So little time to actually let them become what they need, rather than follow what the "experts" have told us to make them into. Keep traveling my friend. We'e on the path with you, the road less travelled.
Another insightful poem, Art, and one that rings true to me as I teach. I allow my students to see that I'm not sure of the right path on which to lead them, so I offer them several routes and they have to choose one to try themselves. If I just lead them, as in driving the car, they'll never learn the way to get there on their own.
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