Love of Learning
I recently had the pleasure of covering an 11th-grade English class for a teacher who was out for the day. The teacher had left behind a great lesson; in his absence, he asked students to discuss several questions he had prepared related to the chapters of The Scarlet Letter. The hour flew by. The students – with no guidance from this former history teacher except for a passing clarification about Calvinism – engaged in an non-stop energetic conversation around the oval table. They pointed to specific language in the text to support their arguments – refreshing in an age where facts don’t seem to matter. They built on one another’s points. They asked one another questions: “How did you all interpret the narrator’s description of . . . .” When they challenged one another, they did so with respect: “I didn’t see that. Where in the chapter did you pick that up?” Nearly everybody spoke up, and those on the quieter side were deeply engaged. It was serious. It was fun. And it was all driven by the kids.
What I saw was no accident. Those students came to bbin娱乐平台 because they wanted to be surrounded by peers like them who enjoy discussing literature, and history, and math, and any number of subjects. They have spent two years and some months now in classrooms learning together and under the tutelage of wonderful teachers who fan their passions and help them understand how to engage productively around the table. The result is the classroom atmosphere I witnessed – where young people genuinely love learning and take ownership of the experience, joyfully.