My blog post at ReadLocalOK:
I got my real teacher education in an Alt Ed classroom. The Oklahoma program, before it was watered down by politics, mandated arts education and life skills as part of the core curriculum.
A good grant writer and matching funds helped me bring workshops to my school, including a poet, a cartoonist, and a found-objects sculptor. Volunteers and friends made other experiences possible. Dan, who’d served three tours of duty as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, taught my kids to cook. Mila, who owned a quilt shop, taught them to sew.
How valuable was this hands-on education? One of my students is a professional chef with his own restaurant. Another became a math teacher. What I learned was that all students have gifts if we make the effort to uncover them, and that outside experts are invaluable in helping your students develop their gifts.
When a new superintendent farmed the…
View original post 300 more words
