Drive, and why I love it...

Amid all the school work, jobs, and socializing that college students do, it is easy to lose sight of the big-picture stuff when it comes to our major. Now deep in the planning process of our units, I have found myself needing to be reminded frequently why this is important. It is something that I have not completely conditioned myself to yet, though I am working to make it a habit. Drive emphasized such importance when it illustrated the ways that alternative schools have been encouraging student learning.

I remember an earlier article that Dr. Shea asked us to read in which a school's tech department functioned as an engineering firm. That idea was so cool to me- it made the information relevant and realistic; students did not need to ask, "Why do I need to learn this?" The answer was inherent: "Because this is how real life engineering firms do it!" I feel that all of these schools handle their curriculum in a similar manner. They make the learning real by having students actively contribute to both their classroom and their community. As these sorts of schools become more and more successful, I wonder if we will eventually see public schools shift to such a method? Obviously this would take a huge change in education policy and take the focus off of high-stakes testing (Heaven forbid!!), but if the result is that our students become more than kids "doing school" and instead become learners, it is so worth it.

I would encourage all of us as future teachers to keep these schools in mind as we create our own classrooms and our own identities. As I mentioned before, I really struggle sometimes to keep my activities and information relevant- I have to check myself on everything I do and make sure that I can answer the dreaded, "Why do I need to know this?" question. If we can frame our units and lessons in the real world and make those connections that are so obvious that we take them for granted (such as a class functioning as a real company), I think we will be really successful. It will take a lot of conditioning and faith in our students to convince them that it's okay to take control of their learning, but I believe it will ultimately be worth the effort.