The business of teaching can be deeply rewarding, yet at the same time deeply troubling and frustrating. I am writing this as I lament the lack of time that I personally have to indulge in personal learning and growth. We live in the golden age of information. Personally, growing up, the joy of learning and discovering got snuffed out by pretty early by exams, societal pressure on performance and  not to mention a few (maybe more) uninspiring teachers. It takes a magician of a teacher to illuminate the beauty and elegance of linear equations than simply providing the formulas for finding the gradient and the intersection. It’s funny, in our line of education, we know a lot about what it takes to produce deep learning but paradoxically, we don’t have the time for it. Exams, results, the future and capitalistic agenda’s have a way of making school life, let’s just a say a little uninspiring. Well, I am sure we all know the quote “I succeeded, in spite of school”.

Saw a clip of ‘Ellen Show’ in which she had guest, a teen who had saved up money and bought a house.  It’s probably right to say most  ordinary people don’t become house owners at sixteen. She described how she does online schooling, therefore unlike the other kids had time to visit garage sales during the day to pick up things to sell on eBay, and do her school work at night. The point, each child is different and needs personalisation. We find it so hard to let go of the factory mentality and see that maybe some students are just not meant to take Advance Physics or 4 language classes at one go! Time will tell, the kind of generation that will appear in a few decades and somebody is going to get to say “I told you so!”

To all teachers who are feeling a bit frustrated today, you’re not alone…