My friend, Jeff Gitt, says that someday he is going to write a book called, “I just want to tell you…” And the sequel is “Wait! I’m not done.”
Sometimes I catch myself in the middle of criticizing a teacher or complaining that a leader isn’t doing what I think is right and I think, “‘Would I do any better if I ran the zoo?’ http://www.seussville.com/books/book_detail.php?isbn=9780394800813
But if I ran the zoo, would I be able to just tell people what to do and they would say, “Oh you’re right. I’m going to do that right away.” I would tell every teacher to use the workshop model, gradual release of responsibility, thinking strategies that professionals use in their work. I would describe how to give students lots of time to breathe, reflect, think, talk, write, and go beyond the four walls of the classroom for real life experiences. I would plead for art and movement through our school lives. And for learning projects that connect to life. We would recognize our assumptions and our cultural identities, learn from diverse traditions for teaching and learning, analyze systems, study social justice as a thread through our learning to be citizens of a nation and the world.
And then they would implement my ideas the way I envision them.
In practice, the details of teaching are complex. Administrative leadership might be even more complex. In practice, even if I had the money that Bill Gates has to pay anyone to follow my ideas, they wouldn’t change over night. They would, in the end, have to make it their own. Changes that last happen one step at a time. Important learning is layered
Still, it is useful to think about the specific practices we believe are best. It is useful to remember our ideal. What would you say if you could tell teachers how to teach? What would you do if you ran the zoo?