Olivia Rush
ED 561 - 6.22.11
I am an educator who...
I am an educator who sees the connections in all things and hopes to help my students see these connections as well. When I was in college, I was struggling to find my path. I felt simultaneously a strong conviction to do something truly awesome that would make a difference (I call it the save-the-world mentality) and a sense of overwhelming at how many “things” there were that I thought needed “fixing.” After a few years of trying to figure out how to do something meaningful with my life without going insane with frustration, after many conversations and dialogues, and much reflecting, I felt even more confused...human rights? Human rights in my own country or another? Reproductive freedom or freedom to marry? The environment...wind energy or solar? Or environmental justice? Conservation? The rainforest or the spotted owl? Ahh!! You get the picture. The difficulty for me lay in that I cared about it ALL, and I saw all of it as connected. To put it more clearly, I saw that the things that I perceived as problems stemmed from common sources. People have written entire books on tiny aspects of what I am talking about, so I won’t (and can’t) go into crazy detail. What I will say is that I really do believe that so many problems of the world come down to the way people are. I know, so vague. But this is the best way I can summarize it. Anyway, I know that “who people are” is a collection of their life’s experiences, and I know that childhood experiences (good and bad) can have huge impacts on individuals’ decisions later in life. So, slowly, it began to dawn on me...don’t try to save the world, at least not all at once. Start with 24 kids over the course of 9 months. See what kind of positive impact you can have on them...see if you can set a positive example that they won’t be able to ignore. See if you can show them the connections between their lives and the lives of every other creature in the world. I want my students to truly feel connected to their immediate and broader communities, to see themselves as citizens of a city, a country, a world, and stewards of a planet. It sounds contrived and cliche, but really, that is my goal as an educator, in the broadest sense. Seeing, finding, recognizing, honoring, and making connections.
ED 561 - 6.22.11
I am an educator who...
I am an educator who sees the connections in all things and hopes to help my students see these connections as well. When I was in college, I was struggling to find my path. I felt simultaneously a strong conviction to do something truly awesome that would make a difference (I call it the save-the-world mentality) and a sense of overwhelming at how many “things” there were that I thought needed “fixing.” After a few years of trying to figure out how to do something meaningful with my life without going insane with frustration, after many conversations and dialogues, and much reflecting, I felt even more confused...human rights? Human rights in my own country or another? Reproductive freedom or freedom to marry? The environment...wind energy or solar? Or environmental justice? Conservation? The rainforest or the spotted owl? Ahh!! You get the picture. The difficulty for me lay in that I cared about it ALL, and I saw all of it as connected. To put it more clearly, I saw that the things that I perceived as problems stemmed from common sources. People have written entire books on tiny aspects of what I am talking about, so I won’t (and can’t) go into crazy detail. What I will say is that I really do believe that so many problems of the world come down to the way people are. I know, so vague. But this is the best way I can summarize it. Anyway, I know that “who people are” is a collection of their life’s experiences, and I know that childhood experiences (good and bad) can have huge impacts on individuals’ decisions later in life. So, slowly, it began to dawn on me...don’t try to save the world, at least not all at once. Start with 24 kids over the course of 9 months. See what kind of positive impact you can have on them...see if you can set a positive example that they won’t be able to ignore. See if you can show them the connections between their lives and the lives of every other creature in the world. I want my students to truly feel connected to their immediate and broader communities, to see themselves as citizens of a city, a country, a world, and stewards of a planet. It sounds contrived and cliche, but really, that is my goal as an educator, in the broadest sense. Seeing, finding, recognizing, honoring, and making connections.
Olivia, I love the way you articulate the connectedness of the world. It too is something that I find important and am navigating through my own life. All children come into our classroom with their own experiences, knowledge, and skills. We help them see the connections in their immediate and broader lives and they in turn help continue recognize and praise the ideas, values, and skills that the next generation hold!
ReplyDeleteOlivia, I agree with you there is more to teaching than the basic subjects; reading, writing, math, science etc. I am an environmentalist at heart and teaching the students about how each and everyone of us can take care of the earth is very important. Teaching students to understand they have a voice and can make positive changes one small step at a time is inspiring. Inspiring the next generation to be stewards of the planet is awesome.
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