Progressive Education in the 1940s and Now

I was a little shocked when I watched “Progressive Education in the 1940s” because it reminds me so much of the Montessori preschools that my daughters attended. The video talked about “Learning by doing. Learning about practical everyday problems.” Every Montessori school is a little different, but this idea of learning by doing was essential at both of my daughters’ schools. There is about 30-45 minutes of “mat time” in Montessori learning where each child can pick an activity to complete, which could range from tracing letters, coloring or sweeping the floor (my daughter’s favorite when she was first starting out. lol) But what impressed me the most about this mat time was how quiet and peaceful it was. Teachers were walking around the room helping students while 3 and 4 year olds were quietly focused and working on a lesson either by themself or with a partner. I wouldn’t have believed that was possible if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we see more of this in public education because of the intense focus on standardized testing. There’s not much flexibility with what students have to know, which can be really limiting to the lessons. For example, in the American Revolution unit, there are about 15 people that are listed in the TEKS, and students need to know one specific thing for each person that could possibly show up on the STAAR test at the end of the year. It’s difficult to allow students the freedom and flexibility to focus on one or two people that they find interesting when they are tested and penalized by the state if they do not know each one.

Another reason we haven’t seen more significant changes in education is because it takes A LOT of time for teachers to change their methods. There are definitely teachers who do not want to move away from full class lectures, but I think most of the people I have taught with would embrace a change that was fully supported and backed by data. However, 1 - 2 hours per day is just not enough time to grade, contact home, fill out paperwork, have tutorials while also overhauling your unit and lessons.

I feel like my post is coming off as a very negative take on education, but I truly believe that what we are creating in this program will help transform education. My hope is that when we implement blended learning in our classroom, it will inspire our coworkers to try it out as well. We will be able to share what we learned and created in this program to help them feel confident when they experiment with it as well.

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