Frying eggs is one of those things that I suck at! It's a relatively simple thing to do but I just suck! I took this picture right after I slipped the eggs in the pan...everything's ok at this point; but then I walk away and when I come back, the yolks are hard and solid and my family gives me that look which says, "Mom! You did it again!" I know how to fix this problem...I should just stand there staring at the eggs and NOT walk away. I know this, but it is virtually impossible for me to do! |
Now, let me scramble some eggs and I'm all over that! Add a little cheese, some salt and pepper, maybe even sprinkle some chopped avocado or green onion on them and now THAT's something I can do!
Fried eggs and education?
I'm not entirely sure where the connection is between sucking at frying eggs and my teaching, but if you bare with me; I'm sure we will both come across the point soon!
I think the point is, I don't do ONE thing at a time hardly EVER! I'm always doing at least a couple of things simultaneously. Now, hold on! I am NOT one of those super organized, centered, calm people that CAN do more than one thing at a time and not go insane. That's absolutely NOT me, but what I am saying is where in life do we do JUST ONE THING at a time? Anywhere? If there is, I haven't come across it yet. It's the way our brain works. Our brain is trying to take in all this information around us and it tries to figure out what to DO with the information and where to store it. Our brains are hard-wired to observe, analyze, understand and organize a bajillion (yes, I know that's not a real number!) bits of information every minute of every day.
I think the point is, I don't do ONE thing at a time hardly EVER! I'm always doing at least a couple of things simultaneously. Now, hold on! I am NOT one of those super organized, centered, calm people that CAN do more than one thing at a time and not go insane. That's absolutely NOT me, but what I am saying is where in life do we do JUST ONE THING at a time? Anywhere? If there is, I haven't come across it yet. It's the way our brain works. Our brain is trying to take in all this information around us and it tries to figure out what to DO with the information and where to store it. Our brains are hard-wired to observe, analyze, understand and organize a bajillion (yes, I know that's not a real number!) bits of information every minute of every day.
Get ready, here comes the point...
Just like I suck at frying eggs, I suck at teaching ONE standard at a time. I couldn't stand teaching synonyms this week and teaching antonyms next week and following with compound words the week after that. Every year after weeks of teaching one thing isolation, and practicing that ONE thing and doing worksheet pages practicing that ONE thing; when it came to testing or looking at my students' writing, they would never show their understanding of that ONE thing! They almost always got that question wrong on the test, or when given an opportunity to use that skill in their writing, wouldn't. It drove me nuts! "Why did they get this question wrong? I taught that skill!", I would scream!
I think teaching should be like scrambles eggs! I believe teachers should combine a few QUALITY "ingredients" and mix them in a natural way that produces an outcome that students can internalize and understand in a way that makes sense! But like a good plate of scrambled eggs, there can't be too many ingredients or a mix of weird ingredients that do not compliment each other. You wouldn't mix jelly and mushrooms in your eggs, right? It's the same with teaching, teachers need to "mix" skills that compliment each other. |