Thankfully, as a teacher I'm constantly happening upon new realizations, mostly because I want to discover new things that will make me as good as I can be for the kids I serve. As a progressive educator, I find I must swim upstream in most educational settings because more often the not conformity is the way to go, and conformity typically equates to the traditional teaching styles. Fortunately, I have the type of personality that allows me to press onward despite the opposition caused by misunderstanding. It's not easy to set up a program to instill the values of a progressive education, but it's highly rewarding.
I like to define progressive education as an open classroom, cooperative learning associated with meaningful high-interest activities, project learning, hands on, interest driven, noisy, messy, student-centered, exciting, and grounded in character and community. I've taken my fifth grade class as far left as I am able these past years and I have realized that once the children have reached that level, the job of the progressive educator has been compounded because essentially, the children have to be reprogrammed from the drone they once were, having gone through several years of traditional programming, to a person who can think and act on their own merits. It's a training process that would be half as challenging if the children had the benefit of starting their progressive education program early.
So, my new realization is this: Teachers who are more progressively minded may consider a career at the first or second grade level. At that point, the children have not had to suffer through too much before having the benefit of a progressive education. This will give the progressive educator a chance to mold and sculpt them early on without having to worry about the challenges of shifting their thinking.
Of course, progressive educators need to fight for change as well, along the way. It's great to be able to take your own class and make it a model for all to follow, but it's another to stand up and challenge others to change their methods. Yet, we must.
