The Beautiful Risk of Education

What a challenge it was to read this book!  But how exciting it is to have my ideas also challenged. Part of my personality is to question the "normal" and look for a better way of doing things. I enjoyed this Beista for just this reason. I think that he purposefully wrote in long sentences with hard words and consulted meanings to make me (or any reader) have to really concentrate to get meaning. It many ways this is an example of how he suggests the teacher in education should present to her students. The goal is to make the individual responsible for the learning and knowledge he receives. The teacher is part of the process not the dictator of the process.
I have had to re-think my ideas of what makes a successful classroom environment and I am thoroughly enjoying the thought process. I know that I viewed my upcoming career as a teacher as the traditional school marm standing in front of the class writing the board and the students all taking notes and then I give a test and assign a letter to each child's test performance. Beista has completely altered my view of my future classroom. I want to create an environment where students can ask questions and motivate themselves to determine how and why the content is related to them and to their lives outside the classroom. I heard once that law schools teach students how to research to find the answers and I have always thought that this was a much better way to teach then to lecture and expect memorization of the facts. If a person has a reference point to begin to search out the meaning and answers to his questions then the learning itself takes on meaning and purpose beyond the test.

This is what "The Beautiful Risk of Education" has done for me. I am looking at new strategies and techniques for teaching math. At first is seemed like an impossible task. How can I teach math with just showing the problem and having the students copy the process?  Now I know that it takes creativity and student involvement  and interaction with the world around me to see opportunities for teaching and learning. Whether it be math, science or art - the risk of letting the student take control of his own learning and the risk of having the teacher allow the student to be in charge can lead to a beautiful education!