It's All Learning

"There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning."

-Jiddu Krishnamurti

Between now and the last day of school, we have only one full work week with our students. Of the partial weeks remaining, several will also have bits of instructional time carved away for other endeavors, like our IAR Reward and Service Day this week. As a classroom teacher, I understand the time crunch that comes at the end of the year, and as a building leader, I understand the importance of protecting instructional time, but I would also argue that time taken away from typical classroom instruction is not a loss of learning. There is so much learning that can take place by stepping away from the classroom, and often times those breaks from the typical school day enhance the learning that can happen when we return.

By taking the time to go out into our community to work with our students on service related projects, we are hopefully instilling in them a sense of belonging and showing them that not only are they part of the community, but they are able to affect positive change upon it. We want them to feel a sense of ownership because we tend to take better care of things in which we feel we have an ownership stake. More and more, the issues we see in society and in our student body are a result of an increasing insulation of self from the world around us. Our students throw trash on the ground because they have no sense of how that impacts anyone but them or that someone else has to clean it up. It never occurs to them what it would be like to be that person. Taking the time to show them how their actions, positive and negative, can affect the world around them will theoretically make them more thoughtful individuals as a whole, and thoughtful individuals are easier to educate.

So, as the clock winds down, and your instructional time runs slips through the hourglass, remember that every interaction we have with our students is a learning opportunity.