"I Knew it Would Never End"

Each week flowers are placed in our church by a person or family honoring or memorializing a special event.  Last week, a beautiful bouquet was present in the honor of Mr. and Mrs. Troudeaut's 65th wedding anniversary,

That's 65 years!

While it's not uncommon to have flowers placed for 50 years of marriage, anything over 60 is extra-special.

The Troudeaut's are sweet people and friends of our family.  They've watched and cheered our girls as they grow up.  I asked Mrs. Troudeaut if she knew when they got married that their marriage would last 65 years.

"David, I never put a year on how long we would be married, but I knew our love would never end."

Mr. Troudeaut chimed in with, "Not all of those years have been easy either.  There have been ups and downs, but we've worked through everything--together."

What great statements to apply to learning.

When students come to school, I don't want them to think they are learning knowledge and skills just for the next test.  Rather, I want students to learn and never stop learning.  Of course, there will be "ups and downs," but learning and the willingness to work through problems with other learners should never end.

It's not uncommon for parents to share with me that they don't understand "this new math" we are teaching.  They will report they don't know why kids don't learn math the way they did when they were children.

My response is usually the same.

If we want our students to be able to solve problems and "think out of the box" then we need to give our students the tools to solve problems in multiple ways.  What we are teaching in math class is not rote memorization or even just calculation.  We need our students to understand and be able to discuss the mathematical concepts behind problems so they can solve the problems in ways that make sense to them.  Once that solution makes sense for the students--and is accurate--, students should be better able to articulate practical solutions for problems.  

In our ever-changing world, some of those problems don't even exist yet.  But, that's the world in which our students will be leading and living.

I'm guessing when Mr. and Mrs. Troudeaut got married they hadn't even considered the impact of social media or computer technology on society or relationships.

Our goal as educators and parents should not be to just prepare our students to be successful on the next test.  Rather, we need to prepare young people for the rest of their "learning" lives, and I hope that never ends.