Treasure Hunting, week 5
Oct. 9th, 2005 01:17 pmLaura ran the class today and I played faithful assistant. The weather's still icky, and apparently a number of people are taking Columbus Day related vacations, so we only had four kids today. Four is just enough to be manageable, but not enough to get out of control, so that went well, and I also had some free time to put together picture frames, which we'd kept on not getting to for several weeks.
However, more and more I am finding that I don't like the "Treasure Hunting" curriculum. I have a constant, nagging feeling that if I follow the lesson plan, I'm talking down to the kids -- not on baby-talk levels, but not really trying to stretch out and take a good look at the world. It's a very inward-focused curriculum, I suppose, or maybe relationship- and emotion- focused. And I tend to feel that kids can figure that sort of thing out themselves, for the most part, and that parents are supposed to do the rest, with occasional guidance from other adult figures. It should not need to be taught, as such.
Teaching, to me, is about learning information and skills, not about picking lint out of your navel. And okay, yeah, some of the projects are pretty cool, and the lessons in and of themselves work pretty well, but the theory behind them just rubs me the wrong way. Very much rubs me the wrong way.
However, more and more I am finding that I don't like the "Treasure Hunting" curriculum. I have a constant, nagging feeling that if I follow the lesson plan, I'm talking down to the kids -- not on baby-talk levels, but not really trying to stretch out and take a good look at the world. It's a very inward-focused curriculum, I suppose, or maybe relationship- and emotion- focused. And I tend to feel that kids can figure that sort of thing out themselves, for the most part, and that parents are supposed to do the rest, with occasional guidance from other adult figures. It should not need to be taught, as such.
Teaching, to me, is about learning information and skills, not about picking lint out of your navel. And okay, yeah, some of the projects are pretty cool, and the lessons in and of themselves work pretty well, but the theory behind them just rubs me the wrong way. Very much rubs me the wrong way.