The light is dying earlier now. It's autumn. Fatherhood is slipping away. No more sippy cups. No more synchronized breathing on a couch as I fight of the imaginary monsters plaguing the dark corners of a bedroom. I don't feel cheated by this. It's full of life, but like the light, it's falling fast.
Joel designs and airplane by stapling two airplanes together symmetrically. To my surprise, it flies faster and further than the previous plane. Micah sketches pictures with thought bubbles, where he asks me to illustrate the lines of his story.
It is in these moments that College and Career Readiness feel like a joke. To Joel, a text isn't "informational." Even the most to-the-basics non-fiction work is magical, powerful, opening up worlds that were previously closed. The act of reading is magical to Micah. And the distinction between "information" and "literary" or between "enjoyment" and "purpose" are negligible.
We read, because . . . we read. It's who we are. It's what we love. It's how we live.
The notion that one would read in order to is foreign. Christy and I read for the same reason the kids read: we love reading. We love the process. We love the journey. We love ideas to be challenged. We love worlds that are conjured up from imagination. We love geeking out over new information that we didn't know before.
Don't get me wrong. I love non-fiction. I love the fact that "informational texts" are finally being valued. I want students to make sense out of bias, propaganda, loaded language and the construction of an argument. However, I fear that we're heading toward a place of illiteracy, where we lose the power of the fantastical, the draw of the narrative and the need to process life through fiction.
I wonder what we lose collectively when we lose our stories. I wonder what we lose when the purpose of curiosity or creativity or reading or art or music becomes simply being prepared for college or for a career. I wonder what we become when we are no more than a diploma and a job.
Maybe for our kids, the ones we entered this career to serve, just maybe they ALL end up employed. I hear you, and I believe in teaching in the parable sense of the word, however the game we have chose to play has standards that are ... well just part of the game. As Omar Little once said " all part of the game yo, part of the game" CCS are here to stay. Hopefully, we can find away to value curiosity and creativity, while accomplishing enough to succeed it this game. Enjoyed the blog!
ReplyDeleterm
Just to reassure you:
DeleteI promise I'll teach to the standards. I always do. My hope is that the love of learning, the love of reading, the passion of critical thinking, will all lead toward better college and career readiness. I've never met a thinker, a true, deep thinker, who isn't prepared for life - whether that life is in college or in a career or with a family or in civic duty.
I'm very concerned about all the focus on CCC too. Reminds me of Dewey and his exhortations not to focus on the instrumental purposes of education. CCSS seems to be all about extrinsic motivation, nothing about intrinsic. I suppose extrinsic motivations are easier for politicos and publishing companies to attach carrots and sticks to. This also reminds me of recent conversations about Accelerated Reader at our house and in the school district where I'm working. Too much focus on carrots, almost zero focus on "I love to read and that's why I do it."
ReplyDeleteWe need more reminders to focus on the love of learning like your post. Thanks for the share.
Wes, I agree here, and if we build a culture of college and career readiness, we can avoid the carrot and stick tools to motivate. If we can help kids understand learning, explore passions, and honor intrinsic motivations, then they will be college and career ready.
DeleteI see college and career readiness as important, but not the bottom line. Kids should get excited about someday having a career, choosing a college, changing a community - but that shouldn't drive everything we do.
DeleteI wonder how we can change things at a policy level so the focus isn't just on college, careers, and testing?
ReplyDeleteYes I also surprise after seeing so many daily updates in our community,policies & techniques.Making career is not a simple task at this harsh time because when a kid go to school or a college so there are lots of issues & problems waiting for her.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the inspirational thoughts you wrote here. It is excellent to know that there are some people that can associate themselves to this issue. For everyone else, I advise that they take the time to read this.
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