What would you want for a child you know and love... What would that child's day in school look like--what would you see?

[Connie Weber]

What would you want for a child you know and love...   What would that child's day in school look like--what would you see?

I love asking this question to educators, writers, and researchers at high-powered conferences.  After all the extensive investigations, after all the educational debates, what is it that in your heart of hearts that you would want to see for a child you love? 

[Ian Carmichael]

Attitude (student and teacher!)

• interest
• joy
• information
• inspiration
• enthusiasm

Content

• history, science, geography, english, and mathematics
• non-embarrassing activities (respectful PE!!)

Dot points will do me today. Now to see what the real educators in this community think... 

[Alison M. Taylor]

Free play and experiential learning, I think, are so  important.  Especially for young children that I love, I hate the idea of regimented learning.  Sitting in rows too early, turns the little boys off to education in general...I don't blame them for thinking, "This is dumb."

[Ian Carmichael]

Certainly so, Allison - in younger education especially. In all the disciplines above I can envisage experiential learning carrying the day - google earth and gps seems a great way to deal with geography and maps, and students can be distributed anywhere,  science and foundational mathematics are most excellently done through activity, and rarely require regimented instruction - certainly rarely require extended regimented instruction (I deliberately avoid here the term education).

[Connie Weber]

I would look to see that my kids had:

* a heart-felt involvement with schooling
* a growing interest in academics, in research, in finding things out
* self-discipline, growing stronger
* high, and growing, self-standards
* a sense of being valued by one's learning community
* a sense of play
* stories about games played in class or outside
* a feeling of safety and support in the social sphere:
--"it's ok to take risks because my community will allow me that"
* goofiness, zaniness, a sense of humor ready to rise up at any moment
* support for development of creativity. opportunity to be creative. knowledge of how to support one's own as well as others' creative development*
* a strong sense of empathy, an awareness of others' needs and feelings.
* forthrightness, earnestness, the ability to be direct
* the sense that ones' job is to contribute to the learning community by challenging one's self to grow,
and by sharing skills or doing projects that help parts of the community.

(sorry for all typos and grammatical gaffes, am working from the outback on orange juice cans and string.)
(that's a start--
next is what I'd look for in the environment, will add that in shortly.
those bulleted points are what I'd like to see in my child, as a result and a reaction to schooling.)

Thanks, Ian, and Alison. Hope to hear more...

[Alison M. Taylor]

every bullet, smack on!  interested to see the environment you'd want