Vision for the perfect world...

This week I would love to hear from some friends. Please post your ideas about the perfect education. What is your vision? What is the purpose for sending your child to school each day? What do we want our children to gain from going to school? What kinds of people do we hope to produce from this experience? What do we wish could have been different for us in our own education?

Welcome to my new Blog!

Welcome to a blog created in order to facilitate discussions of great ideas about education. I hope everyone will feel they can post positive stories, experiences and ideas they have had or their children have had here. I am often involved with informal conversations regarding educational issues and ideals. Because I am a teacher and a mother I often read about, think about and want to talk about various issues in education. As a Montessorian I am often one of the only non-traditional voices involved in conversations, but I also want to become more of a listener in the conversation rather than the defender of my choices in educating my own children. Issues related to education are much more complex and deep than can be discussed in passing. These passing conversations often leave me feeling incomplete and sad that I was not really able to express my point of view in an objective way, but I either say something too negative about things I do not actually have experience with or I have a feeling others felt too defensive about their own choices to really hear my point of view. Thus, I thought, why not create a place where many voices could be heard in a more meaningful way. I began my teaching career as a teaching assistant in Chicago, IL, working with some students that came to college on the weekends for enrichment. Later, I taught middle school in Brooklyn, NY and today I teach in a private Montessori school in Ogden, UT. I have also taught remedial English to college students. Needless to say, I have heard a lot and thought a lot about how things should be in the classroom. To begin this blog I think it would be great to open the dialogue by asking readers to share their experiences in education. Tell us about a great educational experience you have had or your child has had. And if you are a teacher, tell us about a wonderful experience you have had in the classroom with your students. This forum is meant to be a positive and constructive discussion of these issues, not to be used for political rantings. Living in UT, you can imagine that I may have an opinion on these issues as well, but this blog is intended to help people explore philosophies and goals for the education of our future generations. This is my hope anyway.