Even though Open House is next week, we were invited to a GT meeting last night to get to know the teacher. He is awesome! I am so glad Brendan got into this class. It may be just the thing he needs to stretch his little mind. The teacher says his three rules in class are Respect, Responsibility, Reaching. He's world traveler so his emphasis will be on History and Geography, so right off the bat, Brendan has that in common with him. But his ideas for curriculum are astounding. He doesn't have a state-mandated textbook and he doesn't have to teach to the TAKS (standardized state test), so he makes it up and can be as diverse as finding clay and throwing pots, to reading Dante's inferno to building a cathedral outside with flying buttresses and clearstory windows to making tortillas.
He's very tough and demands the best. He constantly asks, "How can you take it a step further?" He hates posters, Powerpoint and shoe boxes. And he admits up front that not all kids like his style. He intentionally gives vague instructions and guides the kids to explore from there. His first assignment was to find out what a Pavlovian Reaction was and draw a cartoon about it. After last night, Brendan said, "I think I need to do my cartoon again. It was more of a rough draft. It wasn't really my best." (COOL!)
I got excited just listening to him. I wanted to ask, "Can the parents play, too?" The only thing I worry about is limited resources in this 30 ft. box. So I assured Brendan, if you get an idea, we can find the materials. There's Hobby Lobby down the street and PawPaw has a wood/workshop with anything you might want. I'm going to have to be very careful not to take over, but to support in any way I can. I can't wait!
