Critical Teaching Manifesto

To me education is like building a house. The students are the carpenters and I am the hired hand. They are in charge and I just bring them the tools and materials they need to build their house. When you are building a house you are building it to your own specifications. Some people might want a huge two story house while others want a single level home that is small and cozy.  This is just like a student’s education journey. Like stated in The Adaptive Dimension “Adjustments to these variables are intended to make learning meaningful and appropriate and to support student achievement.” (Ministry of Education, 2017) Maybe they want to go off to university or maybe they plan to go directly into the workforce. When bringing them tools I need to see if they want a hammer or a drill, or bricks instead of wood. I need to respect their choices and provide them what they each need. This is just like giving students final projects instead of tests or extra time in math. Building a house is an exciting journey. However, there can be bumps throughout the build. Maybe you decide that you need a second bathroom half way through the build or you scrap the whole blueprint and redesign. This is just like education. A student can be excelling through science and suddenly get to a concept they can’t understand. You can’t let this bump just stop you. You readjust and make the necessary changes so you can keep going forward. Teaching isn’t just working at a factory and churning out students as quickly as we can. It is an experience where we can help students become unique individuals in our communities. I want to be a continuous learner about adaptations so that I can truly help each and every individual student who comes through my classroom. Education is about the students.