the learner, enabled

 

what “child-centered” should mean

our school feels called to be “child-centered,”

and I contend we are thus called to concentrate

on what is being learned, not on what is being “taught,”

on what is actually happening with the learner,

not on the blueprint we aim to be at our best,

it is easy to look great on paper:

to describe, to imagine, the sequences of understanding

we plan for, we teach,

how we describe ourselves and our curriculum,

we hope for the chid to enter a class

and proceed seamlessly 

from Understanding, from Knowing, to Doing,

I keep centering instead on the child

and whether the switch is “on” inside,

to see if they can commit to the value of the effort involved,

if they can embrace the giving of themselves to the journey,

a teacher can “teach” well only if the learner learns,

I feel myself to be far more an educator

who works to help enable the learner to learn,

while I “teach” only when the movement forward is already enabled.

by Henry H. Walker

January 13, ‘23