Education and wands

Yes, I KNOW that it takes effort and some hard work when you want to learn something new.

I`m trying to learn Polish, so don`t tell ME anything. Come on, say:

Czy moglaby pani mi prosze przytrzymac drzwi?

Meaning, Could the lady please hold the door open for me? A question which you should understand when you are asked, lest you appear impolite!

But when you enter my magic schoolroom (which happens to be our lovely pavillion in the back of our garden), you will find my supernatural  wand on the table. My most essential equipment!

It was easy to make, out of a stick, the dried beard of a dwarf (no, not really, just something from a corn cob), and a golden star.

But it has all the power it needs to make children curious and willing to study!

I have little helpers in form of the Mr. Men.

The children love them.

The idea for the wand I got from this book, where the witch also has one.

She doesn`t really need it, because she has her broomstick to travel on, her cat to accompany her, and her cauldron to make good soup in. She could be all satisfied with her life.

On her trips through the sky she gains NEW friends, though, and they help her to scare the dragon away. A book full of wisdom!!

And when I teach children, I use this wisdom.

I create a place in which they feel sheltered. I treat them like my friends. When they make a mistake, we laugh it off. They are ENCOURAGED to make mistakes! How else should they learn?

This mixture of soberness and magic, the belief that I can heal their injuries at school with my wand and with my laughter, that makes the children feel at ease. And suddenly their heads are free again to allow new thoughts in. When I turn to them casually and ask them a question in English, they answer me! Without even noticing.

Children really WANT to learn, I am convinced of that. But in our eagerness to teach them OUR outlook on life, our ideas of what is right and wrong and useful, we sometimes forget that each child should find their own answers.

They are living in a new world. It is changing every day. Things that we learned as children are sometimes not even true anymore, or heavily outdated.

So should we not be patient with children, ask them questions to ponder about instead of making them learn our answers?

Mandy from FireByrd is approaching a new grip on teachers, you can read it in her blog.

Janet from Under the Blood Red Sky works for Walks in the Wilderness and is showing neglected children their own nature habitat. Lori  from Lori times Five is teaching knitting to children and grown-ups.

And all of us who bring up children, we know how children ought to be treated.

WHY, I ask, do our schools not understand this?

Dear teachers everywhere, you are not too old to change your ways.

See, I am trying to learn something new, too.

I wonder if I`ll ever manage to make a SECOND one, but at least I am trying hard with a first!

Please, teachers and educators, don`t make children feel small and stupid. Make them feel eager and ambitious and proud!
Go get yourselves a wand. It is easy to make! And it will change the atmosphere in your classroom.
My best wishes to you.
Angela