Short Chapters

This book is filled with 81 short chapters...each about two to three pages a piece. Therefore, as I summarize what I am reading, I plan to highlight what stood out to me (not necessarily every chapter). Each chapter begins with a Taoism and then follows with an example from a classroom. The author followed 3 teachers (in in the primary ages, one intermediate, and the last on a high school teacher) to show examples of the Taoism in place. With all of this in mind, I read Chapters 1-20 in one setting.

I started the book off with the first chapter (as most of us do :) ) "The Way is nameless; the name is not the Way" and thought to myself this is not the book for me. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I did not agree philosophically with the teacher example. The idea that the students determine when and what they want to work on blew my mind. I told myself to give the book a chance and hope I didn't feel the same way throughout the whole book.

Chapter 4 brought about a Taoism I totally agreed with: Application breeds learning; dig deeply. One of the essential questions that I believe we all ask ourselves was brought up in this chapter: "Why are we doing this?" When we can incorporate real life experiences and application, it leads to higher interest and higher retentions for our students, whether they be children or adults. This can be tough to do when you have specific standards or learning goals you need to accomplish. It forces the instructor to think outside of the box when planning learning activities.

Chapter 7, Do no think of self, stood out to me. The premise of this Taoism is to think of your students first, not yourself. I find this is very difficult for many teachers to do. It goes back to chapter 4, teachers have standards to teach and often feel that they did it last year, it will be easy to do it the same way next year. I think back to my teaching days and I often used my plan book from the year before to plan out activities. The catch here is on the delivery. I always looked at my students and their needs. I adjusted plans based on that. I used my plan book as a skeleton, with the knowledge that things will need to be modified. Often teachers will do the same activities, with the same worksheets, and same materials as every other year. It is easy that way. It is not necessarily what is best for the students.

A much needed break needs to be taken before finishing...I'm not normally one to write long posts and I get overwhelmed by long posts...so I won't subject you all to that...which is appears I already have. :)