Old and Dusty

When I was doing my undergraduate, I did an observation at a school in Wauconda, Illinois called Da Vinci Waldorf. This is a Waldorf school that centered its curriculums around what the students were interested in. Almost in a democratic manner, students and parents were able to discuss the curriculum before the school year started with the teacher the students will have that year, and make suggestions on what the students would like to learn about. It was one of the most interesting experiences I ever had in college. It also opened my eyes to the world of alternative teaching curriculums. Prior to going to college I did not know that there was another way students could be taught. I grew up going to public schools and I was aware that Catholic schools had a little bit of a different curriculum, but ultimately the way the classroom was organized was the same as a public school. The Tedx talk by Kayla Delzer re-awakened this idea in me, the way we've been teaching students in our schools has been the same for over 50 years, but the amount our society has changed is inexplicable. If you were to take a teacher from 70 years ago in a time machine and bring them to a school today they would believe that they were on an alien planet. Instead of trying to fight modernity like anti-cell phone and technology use practices in classrooms instead, we should embrace it. Students today are growing up in a digital age and school curriculums need to embrace that in order to best serve and educate their students.

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