I don’t want my class to prepare students for ‘the real world.’ I want my class to help students dream of a better world. - ThreadSky

heymrsbond.com • 146 days ago

I don’t want my class to prepare students for ‘the real world.’

I want my class to help students dream of a better world.

Comments

covingtonedu.bsky.social•145 days ago

I find myself often coming back to this quote:

https://bsky.app/profile/covingtonedu.bsky.social/post/3kxdeffqqwa2d

charleyinma.bsky.social•144 days ago

📌

cynlynn3.bsky.social•146 days ago

And based on your past posts, you are also helping them to feel capable and empowered to create a better world. Great teachers like you are precious… thanks for all you do. 😊🙏

martin-in-toronto.bsky.social•146 days ago

A wonderful Principal I worked with 35 years ago (Dr Bob Garneau) challenged the entire staff, himself included, to post their reason for being a teacher outside the classroom, near the door, for all to see (including parents).
Here is mine; up for about 35 years.

erica1108.bsky.social•144 days ago

you are an excellent teacher

martin-in-toronto.bsky.social•144 days ago

I try.
Thank you!

mnkraft.bsky.social•145 days ago

I'm organizing the Multicultural Literature course I teach thematically this year, and the final unit is going to be about imagining the world students want to see. I cannot wait to see what my current students dream of. (I'm still working out my plans for this.)

bluedottx.bsky.social•146 days ago

I feel the same way, which is why it seems impossible for me to leave. Teaching has been so life-giving to me for 48 years, and has allowed a faint flicker of my idealism from the 60’s to still burn.

octobermystic.bsky.social•146 days ago

Yes! And so well said.

wrecka.bsky.social•145 days ago

My students live in the real world already. I don't think I have one thing to teach them about it.

nextofkim.bsky.social•145 days ago

Right? I almost always learn a thing or two from them.

moniselseward.bsky.social•145 days ago

Why not both. They can dream of a better world, but they will have to do the work once they are out there.

They need to understand what awaits them.

And it ain't pretty.

heymrsbond.com•145 days ago

They already live in the real world and we actually have no idea what awaits them. The world is going to look so different in 5-10 years.

moniselseward.bsky.social•145 days ago

January 2025.

It's a few days away.

christinamluce.bsky.social•145 days ago

I feel nauseous.

fanstachetic.bsky.social•145 days ago

davedun.bsky.social•145 days ago

My classroom is the real world. It’s not like I work in Narnia…

heymrsbond.com•145 days ago

Yes. Students already live in the real world.

jazzisblue.bsky.social•145 days ago

Both are necessary. Idealism and pragmatism are healthy partners.

virgomoon79.bsky.social•145 days ago

This reminds me of a quote I forget who said it:Instead of asking students what they want to be ask them what interesting problems do they want to solve.

badguysequalxps.bsky.social•145 days ago

As I have continued to sit with this skeet, the thing that I have landed on about why “prep for the real world” makes me uncomfy is it feels like asking S’s to obey in advance in a structure that is at the very least indifferent to them and at the worst will be actively violent to them.

virgomoon79.bsky.social•145 days ago

Yeah it feels like many (not all schools) have taken out some of the interesting prep like home ec, tech, participation in government and use this only to talk about giving late penalties and detentions.

badguysequalxps.bsky.social•145 days ago

Right. Like it’s a code word not for Practical Support but for punitive classroom management, maybe.

nextofkim.bsky.social•145 days ago

Yes, civics! Even in K-5 it can be bland. If we engage students with their interests, they’ll be more likely to excel is areas they’re not interested in as well.

virgomoon79.bsky.social•145 days ago

For government I had to go to a local council meeting. I can’t say it was exciting but I learned why zoning law is important.

ethorntonghs.bsky.social•146 days ago

Part of doing that is knowing your own worth and not selling yourself and the gift you are to them for $20

pawsonpaint.bsky.social•145 days ago

I taught kindergarten for about 20 years. LOVED it and still miss it. What I often felt was teaching is a dance between grounding them in the "real world" without having them lose the dreams and goals their young hearts aspire to. Those dreams that make the world better. Thank you for saying this.

stoupasteresa.bsky.social•145 days ago

This! A billion times this!!!

opsarchitect.bsky.social•144 days ago

👏👏👏

yatsukowski.bsky.social•146 days ago

LOVE this. Thank you!

ninakatrina.bsky.social•145 days ago

For me it's always been about cultivating the type of world that I wish we lived in inside of my classroom. My hope is that it shows the students what's possible so they bring that same communal, affirming, welcoming energy into their real worlds and fight for it to manifest everywhere.

heatherolsen.bsky.social•145 days ago

Love this and we need more of it.

engled101.bsky.social•145 days ago

So true!!!!

carlrosin.bsky.social•146 days ago

The best news is that the dream you offer also prepares them for a huge amount of “the real world,” without them even having to think about that now.

heymrsbond.com•146 days ago

Right! They’re already in the real world; children are at the mercy of it. So why are we limiting their power?

izziey.bsky.social•145 days ago

I really wish that there were a bookmark function here. I don't want to lose insporing posts, like this one.

martbog.bsky.social•145 days ago

Maybe you should do both? Dream for the best and prepare for the worst?

heymrsbond.com•145 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/heymrsbond.com/post/3lehtxrjhj22e

nextofkim.bsky.social•145 days ago

It’s so true and with that narrow mindset it’s such a missed opportunity in education. I can’t stand the “real world” and I suspect they’re not big on it either. I want students to know they can create a better world and better outcomes for everyone.

deedub436.bsky.social•145 days ago

Say that!!!!! 💯✊🏾💜📚

mseckman.bsky.social•146 days ago

If not dream, then demand a better world for all by working and inspiring change.

heymrsbond.com•146 days ago

I say this every year and this year it’s more important than ever: the world our children will inherit is on fire, literally and figuratively. Tech bro autocrats are forcing us into a singular vision of what the world will be.

What if we don’t sell them short? What if education is a space to dream?

badguysequalxps.bsky.social•146 days ago

Yesss 🙌🏼🙌🏼 I hope my classroom is always a space of possibility.

odeecs.bsky.social•146 days ago

Yes! Yes! and YES!

(stands with massive applause)

kcottle.bsky.social•145 days ago

and manifest those dreams.

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