Teachable Moments
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Security Check!
Recently, I flew back to Los Angeles from attending a conference in Washington DC.
As if it wasn't humiliating enough to take off my coat, jacket, scarf and shoes, then the airport worker loudly calls out "Security Check!" and asks me to step into a cubicle in clear view of everyone else going through the same drudgery!
Now, I'm thinking to myself, "how did I get singled out for this bonus humiliation?" Everyone passing by was looking at me with suspicion as I cautiously kept my eye on my purse. It held all of my credit cards, identification and money and it was allowed to just remain idle at the end of the conveyor belt!
A somewhat bland young lady asks if I would like to have this bodily inspection in a "private area". I tell her no because I want to maintain a visual on my purse!
After she spent what seemed like a lifetime with the security wand and patting me down, she just as uneventfully declared that I could go!
I pondered this experience as yet another "teachable moment".
As educators, I think that we should constantly "scan" our productivity and effectiveness for the achievement of our students. Just as my purse moved along through the xray machine, we should constantly check for students' understanding, clarity and transferance of the information that we teach on a daily basis.
Each student deserves to be "scanned" for intellectual contents.
It's not enough to say, "I taught the lesson". There is a big difference between teaching and learning.
The absolute goal is to make sure that the students have learned what we have taught! We can "secure" their learning by providing multiple forms of assessment.
Security Check!
As if it wasn't humiliating enough to take off my coat, jacket, scarf and shoes, then the airport worker loudly calls out "Security Check!" and asks me to step into a cubicle in clear view of everyone else going through the same drudgery!
Now, I'm thinking to myself, "how did I get singled out for this bonus humiliation?" Everyone passing by was looking at me with suspicion as I cautiously kept my eye on my purse. It held all of my credit cards, identification and money and it was allowed to just remain idle at the end of the conveyor belt!
A somewhat bland young lady asks if I would like to have this bodily inspection in a "private area". I tell her no because I want to maintain a visual on my purse!
After she spent what seemed like a lifetime with the security wand and patting me down, she just as uneventfully declared that I could go!
I pondered this experience as yet another "teachable moment".
As educators, I think that we should constantly "scan" our productivity and effectiveness for the achievement of our students. Just as my purse moved along through the xray machine, we should constantly check for students' understanding, clarity and transferance of the information that we teach on a daily basis.
Each student deserves to be "scanned" for intellectual contents.
It's not enough to say, "I taught the lesson". There is a big difference between teaching and learning.
The absolute goal is to make sure that the students have learned what we have taught! We can "secure" their learning by providing multiple forms of assessment.
Security Check!