Alternatives

The lecture at Lehman was incredibly interesting. I really did have any preliminary thoughts going into the lecture but the first five minutes there I was surprised. The amount of freedom both the students and faculty have there are unparrallelled. I'm a pretty laid back person and hope that flows over into my teaching career. Throughout my education career I have not had too much success with the overbearing, highly structured, really intense teachers.

For the students to call you by your first name is a bigger step than I thought. School is so formal and I think that's why a lot of kids get so psyched out by the institution itself. Students who are good students may get psyched out by the formality of standardized tests and the steps it takes to get to that point. In an alternative classroom I think it is a healthy environment for a student to really flourish and show the teacher and their cohorts what they are really made of because the formal barrier is broken and a new comfort level is attained.

I also like the alternative learning approaches that can be utilized in an alternative school setting. Using film to teach english is a brilliant idea that I have lobbied for in previous posts and the use of technology may also flourish. There is not an entirely paperless classroom but I think there is a healthy division that can spark the best results using both facets of technology and traditional teaching applications.