HOPE FOR THE FUTURE:

A TEACHER'S REACTION TO ADORA SVITAK

At the end of her TED talk, 12 year-old Adora Svitak says that children will grow up to be adults like my generation, but better. I hope so. She also talks about the value of children progressing and the value of "childish" thinking. Really, nobody other than a child could give a talk like that. The part of Miss Svitak's speech that affected me the most was her idea of children teaching adults. This idea is attractive to me because I am a teacher and I am interested in learning.

As you already know, I am a teacher here at KMLA. One of the great things about this is that my students are very smart (they learn quickly) and already have a lot of knowledge. I think that my place in the classroom is not to be the leader, but to be a partner who is equal to the students. Certainly my opinion is no more or less valuable than my students'. This makes it easier for everyone to share ideas. Miss Svitak called this kind of classroom "reciprocal" because the knowledge travels both ways between me and my students.

In addition to teaching, I am interested in learning. Miss Svitak's speech has given me an idea for how I can research this topic for myself (and to benefit students, of course). I would like to open a class here at KMLA in which I am the student and the students become the teachers. That is, they will choose the materials and the assignments, and I will do the homework and get a grade. From this, I think I can get new knowledge on a subject and learn about how I learn.

I have often said that a good day at work for me is a day in which I learn something from my students. This TED presentation has given me the suggestions of how I already have a reciprocal classroom and how I can make it better. I want to continue to share with my students. I want to put them in the position of being the teacher. In the end, Adora Svitak thinks that the future with children is bright, and I agree.