New Information from Young Educators

This Monday, our class had the opportunity to talk to three new educators in the field. Upon their introductions, I realized that there was something very... homogeneous about them. All three of them grew up in North-east Iowa. All three of them went to college at Luther. All three of them went to work right here in Decorah. I was happy for the chance to talk to people in the field, but I was hoping for a selection with a more diverse background at the very least. At any rate, I still received extremely useful information and made some observations that both surprised me and reassured me.

Most of our discussion centered around the qualms of the modern educator. Technology is a wonderful tool to employ in the classroom, but how much is too much? All three of the educators that we talked to cited several instances when technology has been more of a hassle than help. In today's world, it is completely normal for a junior high or even middle school student to own a cell phone or a laptop. This overexposure to technology is causing students to lose touch to what were essential experiences to our generation (I realize the irony that I just expressed this opinion in an internet blog, and I too am becoming a product of this trend). One general consensus was that when kids go outside now, they have no idea what to do. The experience of being outside is unrewarding for them. With all the possibilities available to young children now, why would you go outside and freeze yourself for twenty minutes when you could slay goblins in World of Warcraft or text a joke to your friends? The burden here, at it's very base, is on the parents. Technology is a tool, not a crutch. It is helpful, but not necessary. Parents need to instill this in kids at a very young age if a healthy balance between real life and technology will ever occur.

Something that I found very intriguing about these teachers was their varying demeanor. The personalities of these three people were so different from each other, ranging from 'strictly professional' to the special education teacher and coach who proclaimed that during his years at Luther he was "All American at Roscoe's" (Roscoe's is Decorah's local dive, almost exclusive to the college student crowd). In all of our textbooks, we get portraits of what the 'perfect teacher' is like, right down to the polished apple on the desk. It is really nerve wracking to think sometimes that maybe you won't make the cut, that maybe you can't be that perfect educator. It was refreshing to see three very people who behave very differently in the classroom who were all successful, responsible, and most importantly, hired.

Seeing these real people stand in front of me was a well needed wake up call. There are some days of school that drag on. Sometimes in classes, I catch myself asking why I will need to know the material. The fine educators that were kind enough to talk to the class testified to the fact that the program here at Luther is really one of the finest. There are so many hoops to jump through here, it is a very daunting task only for the brave. Knowing that it can be done, that success is more likely than not, and that Luther is indeed giving me real and useful tools I will need is incredible, and most of all, this was the most important piece of information I received from our panel of teachers.

Paper Clips

By now, the story of the Paper Clip Project is well known to people studying World War II or the Holocaust, and the story really is quite touching. A tiny classroom in the small community of Whitwell in rural Tennessee gathers together to learn how the world went mad. In the course of their studies, the class comes to the realization that while the Holocaust ended the lives of six million people, the students have never seen six million of anything. In order to represent this seemingly abstract number, they decide to collect six million paper clips, to represent the victims of the most horrible deed in history. The class writes to celebrities and politicians all over the world, is covered by German reporters, and eventually have their paper clips immortalized in an authentic German rail car, one used during the Holocaust to transport prisoners to concentration camps. Every normal person who hears the story or watches the film about the project is moved, sometimes to tears, about how these students learned to overcome adversity, and how important it is to remember our past so that we may not be doomed to repeat it. However, in our Educational Psychology class, we could not simply leave it at that. We observed how this group of students worked as a classroom, the material covered, the appropriateness of the material, and whether or not this project achieved real academic and measurable progress in learning for these students.

First off, as observers of a classroom, I had to ask: Is this unit even appropriate for these students? The students participating in this project were in middle school, aged eleven to thirteen. This project involved graphic depictions, texts, and accounts from survivors that are gut-wrenchingly unbearable even for adults. Was it right for these teachers to go so far into depth with this material?

This subject was extremely sensitive for me. It is my personal belief that these kids were just at the right age to start learning about the nitty gritty of this material. If they were any younger, they would not understand the full implications of the horrors of the Holocaust. Several of the Paper Clips students were brought to tears during this project. To me, this is almost a wonderful thing. There is no way to dance around a topic like mass execution. A heavy emotional reaction tells me that the student really connects and understands the full extent of the issue. An emotionally healthy student in this age range will be upset, but for all the right reasons.

Secondly, did this class achieve documented improvement in these students' understanding of history? The educational philosopher E. L. Thorndike believed that numbers are the most useful tool for measuring how much a student learns in a class. Can we measure how much the students learned in the Paper Clips project by testing or statistics?

On a personal note, I will have to put forward that I do not care very much for Dr. Thorndike's ideas about education, but if I must answer this question according to his rules, I will. Did these students learn something that can be shown on paper? Of course they did! Should they have to document it by testing. According to this editorial source, no, they should not. The Holocaust was one of the most pivotal moments in world history, and because these students learned so much about it in such a positive way, perhaps their aptness and interest in world history will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Paper Clips was a true alignment of stars. It was a wonderful classroom, with a wonderful project, with wonderful teachers, and wonderful students that learned some of the most important material a history class could ever cover. It was truly an unforgettable experience for the students involved and the faculty, and whether observing as a normal outside spectator or a prying and questioning education student, it is almost impossible to find a fault with this program. Because of this project, hopefully, these students will always want to go beyond the book with material learned in the classroom.