If You Could Design a Class...
Middle school is meant to be about exploration, yet our students don't seem to get that many options in their day at our school. Why can't a student who has a passion for music spend three hours of their day in music? If they love art, what would be wrong with them being able to have more of their day spent in art? Same for the subjects of English, History, Math, etc...
I know there are arguments to be made either way, but that's not the point of this post. The point is...if you could design a class that would allow you to be with kids who truly want to learn more about a specific subject/topic that you could teach, what would your class focus on?
For me, I would want to teach a woodworking class using hand tools from different time periods in history. I'd love to bring back teaching students to be craftsman by using their hands and their minds (I'm pretty sure the term "craftsman" is politically correct in regard to gender neutrality...just like "human"). Let's build a project that you'd like to make. We'll use hand tools like dovetail saws, planers, scrapers, chisels, files, brace and bit, etc. Nothing plugs in. I think some kids would really enjoy a class like this. I'd bring in some local carvers, sawyers, etc. to teach students their craft.
I'm a huge fan of technology, but I'm also a huge fan of things being done the old-fashioned way. I could see having students upload instructional videos to YouTube or showcasing what they've created via class web sites. This has me excited!
So, what would you teach?
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