(November 12, 2011 at 6:40 pm)Mal Kiever Wrote: I would give kids much more choice as to what to learn, and they would be taught according to which methods are most effective to the individual. Creativity would be encouraged, and part of the teacher's job would be to identify talents and encourage them. And teaching wouldn't be restricted to the classroom.
That sort of choice can backfire a la Burger King consumerism. There is a scope and sequence which education must address, and then there are electives. Good teachers nearly always include challenges to creativity. Recently, the university came out to watch a Latin challenge I issued to students, and one of the deans told our principal that she had not seen anything so creative in challenging thinking at any school she had visited. That session was not inside a classroom.
Trying to update my sig ...