Index to last name of authors of quotations
"We have learned a lot about nature in this century. Now we have to learn from nature. In the past, we used a wedge to dissect--frogs, peoples, dogmas, races. Going forward we need a web that binds. Nature is not structured as a hierarchical Great Chain of Being. It is, rather, a Great Network of Being, in which all share in equal measure." Tom Mahon
Tom begins his essay on "The Search for Meaning of Soul in an Age of Science and Technology" by describing Newton's experiment with prisms, where Newton used the one prism to analyse the sun's light by breaking it up into a rainbow of colors, and the second to synthesize the sun's light by bringing it back together again. This is a powerful model of human understanding, as Tom points out. We are confronted intellectually with an ever-increasing complexity. We must seek the wisdom that comes with synthesis, the discovery and definition of unifying patterns within a beautifully diffuse and diverse universe. As teachers, we must give our students the tools to pursue the same lifetime endeavor.
"The ability to acquire and the ability to impart are wholly different talents. The former may exist in the most liberal manner without the latter." Horace Mann (1796-1859) in On The Art of Teaching (1840)
"The ability to acquire is the power of understanding the subject matter of investigation. Aptness to teach involves the power of perceiving how far a scholar understands the subject matter to be learned, and what, in the natural order, is the next step he [or she] is to take. It involves the power of discovering and of solving at the time the exact difficulty by which the learner is embarrassed. The removal of a slight impediment, the drawing aside of the thinnest veil which happens to divert [one's] steps or obscure [one's] vision is worth more ... than volumes of lore on collateral subjects. Horace Mann (1796-1859) in On The Art of Teaching (1840)
There are those who fear that computers will replace teachers. We are a long, long way from computer systems which are "apt to teach" along the lines described in the quote above.
"[Those who are apt to teach] should have a knowledge of modes as various as the diversity of cases that may arise, that, like a skillful pilot, they may not only see the haven for which they are to steer but know every bend in the channel that leads to it. No one is so poor in resources for difficult emergencies as they may arise as he whose knowledge of methods is limited to the one in which he happened to be instructed. It is this way that rude nations go on for indefinite periods, imitating what they have seen and teaching only as they were taught." Horace Mann (1796-1859) in On The Art of Teaching (1840)
Every child in our classes comes with unique abilities and needs. Individualization of instruction is an elusive goal when a teacher has twenty or more students to work with. But individualization must be our goal come what may. Thus, teachers should have "a knowledge of modes as various as the diversity of cases that may arise." Technology can help enormously in this regard by providing a prepared environment potentially tailored to each student's individual learning needs. We are a long way yet from taking advantage of technology to achieve this worthy goal of individualization. Technology itself is still a long way from where it needs to be. But it is possible to envision a future in education where individualization will be the norm. That dream is yet to come for the vast majority of the students in our classes, but it is already a reality for a privileged few.
"He who is apt to teach is acquainted, not only with common methods for common minds but with peculiar methods for pupils of peculiar dispositions and temperaments; and he is acquainted with the principles of all methods whereby he can vary his plan according to any difference of circumstances." Horace Mann (1796-1859) in On The Art of Teaching (1840)
"If I'm going on the web, I wanna be a spider." Duane Molnar, Teacher
It's easy to waste time wandering the web if you don't know how to get around. It's also easy to get side-tracked down pathways that lead to useless, objectionable, or otherwise unwanted material. Everyone should take the time to learn how to take best advantage of what the web has to offer. That's what being a spider means, where the web is a familiar environment, where the web is more like home. The web will otherwise be a dangerous place to hang around.
"Children who have acquired the fine art of working freely in a structured environment, joyfully assume responsibility for upholding this structure, contributing to the cohesion of their social unit." Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952)
"The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist." Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952)
It seems reasonable that computer-based learning systems should be used to simulate and extend the set of didactic materials designed by such great educationists as Maria Montessori. Imagine a lesson about volcanoes where the teacher's knowledge and experience are augmented by the child's ability to experience volcanic activity in the context of an interactive simulation using multimedia and the web. Imagine a lesson on the romantic poets where the teacher's knowledge and experience are augmented by readings of the poetry and discussion in class, and setting this against a sociological, historical, and biographical backcloth based on video clips, increasingly available on the web, of the lives of Wordsworth or Keats set in the context of 19th century England. None of these ideas is new. Since time immemorial teachers have been innovative in making learning exciting--even compelling. Computer-based technology is one more tool in such teachers' hands.
"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (1475-1564)
What an inspiring statement! How beautifully Michelangelo's words capture the essence of artistic creation! But they also describe the whole process of problem-solving, including the problem posed to teachers every day of bringing out the genius in each and every child. Thomas Armstrong speaks eloquently of the twelve qualities of genius (curiosity, playfulness, imagination, creativity, wonder, wisdom, inventiveness, vitality, sensitivity, flexibility, humor, and joy). In his book "Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom" he points out that every child has every single one of these qualities to some degree or other. Helping children discover the genius that lies within them is the most exciting and important part of any teacher's job because in doing so the teacher sets the child free, just as Michelangelo did for his angel.
"The story of our lives is punctuated with pregnant possibilities that are stillborn. There are times when we know what we should do. The call to service, the call to excellence, or simply the call to change, rings clear in our ears. For lack of desire, for lack of energy, for lack of motivation--rarely for lack of time--we cover our ears and ignore the call, persistent though it may be. Life, however, is too short to fill it with such nagging regrets." Morpheus--The Matrix
"When we have the why, we can take care of the how..." Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)
A tad enigmatic? Actually, it's a simple idea which, like many simple ideas, has powerful implications. The stronger our motivation, the greater our commitment to getting something done. Sometimes we need to discover the importance of something before we can discover the desire to attend to it--whatever "it" may be. For teachers, "it" may be integrating technology into the curriculum or any one of myriad improvements we seek to make in our continuous quest for quality.
"I am I plus my surroundings and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself." Jose Ortega Y Gasset (1883-1955) [Meditations on Quixote]
It is through their students that teachers touch the future by making a difference in the world around them. They spend as much, if not more, time with the children as the children do with their parents. Good teachers understand, moreover, that the attitudes they bring to their classrooms rub off on their students. They thus consciously prepare projects and assignments which will bring their students to understand their place in the world and their responsibility for its social, ecological, and environmental preservation. Without this there will be no world for the children to enjoy.
"The one really competitive skill is the skill of being able to learn." Dr. Seymour Papert
Dr Seymour Papert continues to discuss aspects such as the irrelevancy of school, the constructive power of digital media and the end of the education empire. Information is out there in abundance. The role of the teacher is not any more to give information, but to facilitate students to construct what they need from that information. In fact, the role of the teacher has never been more demanding and crucial as an agent for social change.
"Man is born to live, not to prepare to live." Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) from the novel Doctor Zhivago, published in 1954
A corollary of this might be that schooling should give children the opportunity to experience life, not prepare them how to live. It seems sad that schooling is regarded by so many students as an imposition to be endured, rather than as an enjoyable and integral part of life. So much of schooling purposefully sets out to prepare students to live. Perhaps matters would improve if schools systematically applied the philosophies of educationists who, for centuries, have advocated creating learning environments where children can discover knowledge through experience at a time and pace that matches individual need.
"Fortune favors the prepared mind." Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
As every teacher knows.... Preparation to teach is both immediate and remote. Immediate preparation is documented in a lesson plan. Remote preparation encompasses not simply unit plans and semester syllabi and schedules, but the whole lifetime of experience and learning that prepares a teacher for the awesome task of helping children grow in wisdom and knowledge. No matter how gifted the teacher, he or she must be prepared. When that is the case, the teacher's effectiveness will be punctuated with precious moments that appear to arise out of nowhere, yet are truly the progeny of careful preparation.
"When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments: tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become." Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
It is a cliché that teachers touch the future, but it is nonetheless true. We have to consider, and often think about, what our students will become when we help them learn. Louis Pasteur, the quintessential scientist, carefully conducted experiments in nature before arriving at conclusions that involved discoveries that changed our lives. So, too, with our students in the classroom which, in many ways, is a laboratory for life's experiences. The best teachers have a soft spot for their students, wondering what they will become. It is rare that we are given the opportunity to follow our students through their later lives. The only thing we can be sure of is that we always make a difference with the myriad acts of tenderness that we share every time we greet them with a welcoming smile and assist them along learning's lanes.
"Anyone who doesn't cultivate a sense of humor may grow weeds on his disposition" Phil Perkins
A sense of humor is an essential quality for a teacher to possess. It's amazing how far a little laughter will go, not only when dealing with the ins and outs of the daily routine but also, and maybe more so, when in the throes of a difficult situation. There is a real danger in taking ourselves too seriously. We should be able to see the joy in life. A teacher with a sense of humor is a delight to his or her students and will be much loved for not being "weedy."
"When you love someone, you love him as he is." (Charles Peguy, French, 1873-1914)
It is so tempting for teachers to want to mold students in their own image and likeness. Parents want to do this, too, as a rule. But every child is unique, a product of both nature and nurture. We are born with irreversible personality traits that come with our genes. We are raised in ways that leave increasingly permanent impressions on who we are. Both the nature and the nurturing make it difficult for us to change our essential selves. All a good parent or a good teacher can do is ensure that each child is given the opportunity to blossom into the uniqiely beautiful person he or she surely is.
"The principal goal of education is to create people who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done." Jean Piaget
How many teachers teach as they were taught? Do you teach the way that you were taught? Think about that. Think about how you teach. Think about what you do. Do you teach the way that you were taught? It's an important question. It goes to the heart of what teaching and learning, in an information age, is all about. Do you still rely on chalk and talk? Do you still expect to be the source of information? Do you accept a situation in your school, in your classroom, where your students are denied access to those non-traditional information resources--computer-based resources--that would complement the content that you teach? Are you hesitant about using technology in the classroom? Hesistant about integrating technology into your curriculum?
Think about it. Is that where you are? Is this where you want to be...?
"Only the educated are free." Plato (427?-347? BCE)
Education is acquired from the full range of experience, not simply that gathered in schools. But Plato's words are a clarion call to all those charged with the development of young minds. Teachers have an especial responsibility. Their raison d'etre is the passing on of the torch of Freedom, with a capital "F". When teachers do their job well, they empower their students by helping them discover freedom. What nobler profession could there possibly be?
"Let early education be a sort of amusement, you will then better be able to find out the natural bent of the child." Plato (427?-347? BCE)
The distinction between work and play is an artificial one. Culture to a large extent determines what we will perceive as either one or the other. For example, Churchill liked to build brick walls to relax. If we create and maintain a learning environment where children can enjoy what they are doing, they will be more likely to busy themselves with useful activities. As one teacher observed: "Children who have fun will work harder." Even Plato, that advocate of mental discipline, recommended that learning be a form of play. When work is perceived as play, it will be preferred over activities that are perceived as less enjoyable.
"Every step you take is the
right direction when your heart is your guide"
Bernard John Poole (1943-
)
\While there are exceptions to every rule, it is more often than not true to say that, when you love what you're doing, you'll do it better. Likewise, when you love where you're going, you'll enjoy the journey more and feel a greater sense of satisfaction when you arrive.
"Teachers help students build the home in which they will live out their intellectual lives." Bernard John Poole (1943- )
Learning is cumulative and constructive. "I am a constructivist," says Jean Piaget (1896-1980). "I think that growth in knowledge is a matter of continual new construction as a result of interaction with reality, and is not pre-formed. There is continual creativity in the mind.” Every day, teachers guide students in the building of new knowledge and understanding through interaction with the world of information in all its multifaceted forms. The bricks and mortar of the learner's house is common knowledge available to all. but the ever-emanating design of the house is continually customized depending on each individual's needs and desires. All a teacher can hope to do is provide a climate for students in which intellectual home-building can flourish on a firm foundation that will stand the test of time and support a lifetime of learning.
"Communication is the key to using technology effectively in the classroom." Bernard John Poole (1943- )
The ability to communicate effectively is the most important of the many skills that teachers help their students acquire. This is because communication is inherently a learning experience. Communication includes reading, listening, and speaking, as well as writing. When we communicate in any of these ways, we have to think about what we're doing. We have to organize our thoughts, create appropriate connections in our brain; we want to make sense. If teachers across the curriculum have their students "communicating their brains out," they will be providing their students a golden and incremental opportunity to learn. Technology, especially computer-based technology, when integrated thoughtfully into the curriculum by teachers who know what they're doing, can be a most effective communication tool, not least because it is inherently motivational for children and adults alike. Such technology, when used as a tool for communication, can significantly enrich the learning experience when the teachers integrate it sensibly within the context of specific learning goals.
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift." Steve Prefontaine (1951-1975)
Oh my.
People who read this quote from Steve Prefontaine and don't think it applies to them need to take a reality check. It's especially true of teachers because, after all, teaching is the most important profession on the planet. Unfortunately, in the societies of developed or wanna-be developed nations--like America or the countries of Europe, or some nouveau riche nations in the Middle East--the teacher is essentially no more than a hireling. But in still traditional societies--such as those in Africa or Asia--the teacher is revered.
In Hindu India, for example, the saying goes: "The mother is a God; the father is a God; the teacher is a God." The teacher is there amongst the pantheon of those to be respected and revered.
So here's the beauty of Steve Prefontaine's statement: If you, a teacher, do less than strive to be the best that you can possibly be, you are sacrificing your gift as a teacher. You are, in effect, saying: "I have the gift to be a teacher, but I don't care to be the best that I can be."
Can you live with that?
"You can sometimes count every orange on a tree but never all the trees in a single orange." A.K. Ramanujan, poet (1929-93)
From the fruit of our loving, who knows how many seeds will take root, flourish, and grow? Who knows, of the many seeds we cast, which will make a difference? Who knows.... A teacher's life is like this. We can count all the students in our class, but we'll never count all the times we make a difference in our students' lives.
"When people seem the most unlovable, it is then that they need love the most." Kenneth B. Randall (1922-1983)
It is important to keep this thought in mind when dealing with the many and varied personalities whom we encounter each day. They can be wonderful, but they can be difficult, too. It's hard to like, let alone love, people when they are acting out. But we should try to handle the acting out with a touch of understanding and give love in return, for it is at this time that they need our patience and understanding most of all. A little love does wonders for the soul.
"It gets more like the future every day." Rebecca Randall (1953- )
Alvin Toffler wrote a book in the early 1970s called Future Shock. In it he described what he called the "acceleration in the rate of change." Technology in general, and computing technology in particular, is bringing about increasingly rapid and broad-sweeping change in our world. The World Wide Web is an icon or symbol of that change, bringing about an explosion of knowledge availability, access and use. The breakneck speed of change makes it difficult for many constituents of our global society to keep up. In the United States we are privileged to be in the position of leading the world in the proliferation of the computing infrastructure that is necessary to take advantage of what the World Wide Web has to offer. More and more homes, and the children in them, are turning to the Web for information across the spectrum of knowledge to meet their day-to-day needs. We teachers especially thus need to understand how the Web works since we are the ones charged with the responsibility of guiding children to a future which is happening every day.
"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn...and change." Carl Rogers (1902-87)
People might appear to be educated if they know a lot of information and can spew it out at the appropriate moment in a conversation. But this may be mere book knowledge and has little to do with education. A truly educated person knows where to find necessary information and is able to apply it to new situations as and when the need arises. Our students must know more than dubiously useful strings of facts if they are to be prepared for a future where the facts themselves are in a constant state of flux. As educators, we need to concentrate on teaching our students how to think and how to process information. They need to know how and where to get information, and how to apply that information to meet the needs of a fast-paced, changing world. People who do not have the skills for gathering and processing information will have great difficulty adapting to change and may be doomed to being left behind.
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
Many of the children in our classrooms come from broken or dysfunctional homes. They will already, perhaps, have feelings of inferiority without our doing a thing. Even the smallest slight can create bigger problems. Children, especially the younger ones, are so vulnerable to disparagement. They don't understand that they have the ability to rise above it. We must help them learn to do this for themselves, letting them develop their own self-esteem, rather than falsely inflating it or, worse still, deflating it with thoughtless words or deeds.
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher and author (1712-1778)
This brings to mind the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (1749-1832), who said: "Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together." Henry James (1843-1916) also had thoughts on the same subject: "Three things in human life are important," he wrote. "The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind." Witness, too, the words of Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, and musician (1875-1965): "Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. These words may read like a platitude, but our daily lives are marked with so many unkindnesses, our own as much as those of others, that it is well to remind ourselves that every act of kindness, no matter how small, is a gift to the world, making it a more graceful, more beautiful, more peaceful place.
"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it." John Ruskin (1819-1900)
We all know teachers who wish they weren't. This quote is neither for, nor about, them. This quote is for those teachers who day after day work to promote the educational well being of their students. Such teachers are thereby ennobled and enriched.
"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece." John Ruskin (1819-1900)
You have a winning combination when you have teachers who love to teach and have acquired, or innately possess, the skills that make for a good teacher. The masterpiece is reflected in the hearts and minds of the children entrusted to their care.
"We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought." Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) in "Sceptical Essays"
© Bernard Poole, Donna Hendry, Rebecca Randall, Yvonne Singer 1998-2008, All rights reserved / poole@pitt.edu/ (814) 269-2923 / Revised January, 2008