Chapter 4 Social Innovators

Of all that we have read and done during this class, this one chapter was a highlight!  I have been skeptical of reading this book but one part of this chapter really spoke to me as an educator.  Zander is a large percentage of the students that I teach and I am amazed that he has found an outlet for his energy.  The fact that he struggles in school and has ADHD but has become an expert on sea turtles is a great example of how our educational system is failing our students.  Zander has enough education to be proficient but may not finish a college degree in what he loves because there are requirements out there that have nothing to do with his passion!  That is a failure!!!  I and my students question so many times why we have to take certain subjects when we clearly do not not enjoy them but we muddle through them to get them out of the way!  Why must students continue to take math and science when they don't have an interest in them but would much more enjoy taking extra history courses or learning about law enforcement?  Once I have the basics, why must I continue to subject myself to this torture.  These four examples show us how our educational system is failing our students.  Most students cannot be successful at things they are truly not interested in.

Syreeta has the beginnings of a great idea to help those students who are disadvantaged find a way to correct their circumstances by first and foremost realizing that their circumstances do not have to be permanent.  It is very difficult for me to teach a disadvantage youth how to overcome their circumstances when I have never been in their position.  Syreeta can inspire and find others to also inspire these students to want something more and different than their present circumstances.  She is still struggling with her circumstances but hopefully she will find her some success in spite of those struggles.  Parents are a key motivator for the passion and purpose that she is searching.

Disadvantages can be anything and these students represent different ones, whether its socially, economically or physically disadvantaged we all must conquer that obstacle in order to find what we are passionate about.  I now understand more of my students who have attention problems.  We are creating a society that rewards someone who can sit still and listen and give back what is given to them.  Their minds are going in many different directions and I need to find a direction that they want to go in .  I am going to try this in a genius hour.  I am going to allow each of my students to choose any topic that they are interested in and research that topic for the time.  I am going to build in time once a week to do this.  Other components of this will be that they must teach classmates about their topic and they must correspond to someone in this topic.  So far this is just scratching the surface but it is a start.  I did something similar when I allowed my students to research someone that should be added to our history book and give a good argument as to why they should be added.  It's a start and a fun one because I have never done this before. I want to be the elderly neighbor to Zander and I want to be the Daniel to Syreeta to someone in my classroom.  To many right now, I am "mom" because I inately nurture these children but I hope to inspire someone that needs it!