Schedule or Spirit Led?

“Learning by authority and learning in creative ways are not mutually exclusive. “ I agree with this, and we have read within our text the importance of learning by doing and the importance of guiding critical thinking and investigation through teaching. I also agreed with a lot of the findings in the nature of creative preschoolers. The differences in interest span and response periods are important reminders to us that not all children react the same way in all circumstances. I loved the sentence: “Our mistaken idea that curriculum must be the same for all of the children in a class makes it difficult to respect and make constructive use of this absorption into an activity.” As teachers, we want to see investigation and critical thinking taking place, and all too often classrooms become task and schedule oriented instead of truly ‘learning’ centered. Schedules are necessary and helpful, but just like 12:00 PM on the church clock can shut down a service where the Holy Spirit is moving, too much attention paid to ‘the next activity’ can hinder true learning that is taking place. It is important for teachers to be in tune with what is going on with each child and to adjust their lesson to the children or the direction God is leading their own heart. This also relates to the section on the value of silence. I love this: “What we have in mind is the silence that comes from an absorbed interest in one of the marvels of the world- an open flower, a colorful leaf, a newly discovered bug- the silence of wonder and awe which may be overlooked with the teacher or leader overemphasizes staying ‘on schedule.’”