bare minimum

it never fails to amaze me..... the complacency of so many teachers, that is. the failure of teachers to recognize the potential of students, or to push, and really PUSH, students in deepening their understanding of just about anything.... . this week has been a week of preparation at school, and today i was once again reminded of the insanely frustrating and limiting viewpoint that permeates so much of education... the language of so many teachers makes it all the clearer to me that yes, indeed, i need to keep reminding myself that challenging students in their level of comprehension is not going to come from every teacher... and that i need to work extra hard to get these kids exposed to things that sure, might be a little bit advanced and probably not something they're expected to know, but are also exceptionally awesome and will blow their minds. and is something that they can all do! one topic that a teacher told me was too complicated for high schoolers was the same topic i taught my 8th graders. and they loved it and got it and could explain it and yes... the only thing limiting in that situation was my own ability to present the information to them. those same 8th graders were doing work i did not do until my junior year of high school... and these students were not exceptions. i just expected a hell of a lot of them and they understood that i had complete confidence in their ability to succeed. and never mind the fact that the labs being scheduled are the same sorts of things boyle would have done in his makeshift laboratory. potatoes? algae? really? can't we get a little bit more awesome? science is AMAZING and things should be glowing and exploding and boggling the mind of every student in the room. not lulling them to sleep.

and i guess a testament to fighting against the boring teaching machine would be hearing from a former senior at my new school (and now off to MIT) that the work ethic of my former students was out of control awesome.... and then when he asked the students how they were so prepared for the amount of work they had in high school they told him that yours truly gave them the same amount and expected them to kick ass on it. THAT makes me happy... kids are unbelievable and amazing and incredibly capable and the more information you throw at them the more they lap it up... i CAN'T WAIT to blow their little science worlds up....