CURR 501 Blog 2: What we all can learn from Baby George and Dr. Welsh


What I got from Learning from Baby George, is that Mike Welsh doesn’t see his students as failures. He believes that everyone has their own strengths and talents that unfortunately the education system may sometimes  fail to see and/or acknowledge but that doesn’t mean that a student isn’t smart or incapable, it just means that they are learning in a different way!  

We all should be doing something that we love and just go for it, pushing ourselves to keep going step by step to accomplish the goals that we have for ourselves and once we’ve accomplished that goal, it’s still not the end of the journey, it’s just the end of a chapter. Life continues to go on and on and sometimes we’re going to go through trials and tribulations but we shouldn’t take that as failures or reasons to give up, rather, we should take them as learning experiences and reasons to keep going. We are constantly learning as we go through life, and we even start learning more and more things about ourselves and figuring out who we are and what we want to do in life. 

I think that educators (including myself) should start following Dr. Welsh’s mountain analogy. Just because some youth are able to pick up on certain subjects and topics quicker than others doesn’t mean that those students have won the race up the mountain. Learning is not a race! Students who can’t climb up the mountain as fast shouldn’t feel discouraged as they are still learning and can still get to the top of the mountain as long as they keep pushing themselves to move forward and not settle with staying behind. We as educators should be there to support the youth who are at the bottom of the mountain to keep going and remind them that it’s not a race. Life is learning and both are not a race!! 

This reminds me  of a story about one of my family members. Since we were somewhat close in age we were constantly being compared to one another. I was the one who would get good grades and he unfortunately did not. I’ll never forget his mother telling him that he has a learning disability and that’s why he can’t comprehend as well. From on he stopped trying. As a kid I felt as though I could only encourage him so much and that at the end of the day he was going to listen to all the negativity that adults were telling him because “adults know better”. This has taught me that as an adult and educator I really have to pay attention to what I’m saying to the youth that I work with and be their cheerleader every step of the way as they’re climbing up that mountain.  Life is learning and both are not a race!! 

Comments

  1. Roberto VargasJune 29, 2021 at 2:42 PM

    Tammy, I agree with you about life being a learning process and not necessarily a race. Everyone has their own strengths and just because someone is not able to fully display a specific ability I am sure they have others to share. I think family at times can have an impact on young children and like you mentioned, we have to be careful on what we say to our current or future students.

    ReplyDelete
  2. mightymacrostudentJune 30, 2021 at 5:45 AM

    "This has taught me that as an adult and educator I really have to pay attention to what I’m saying to the youth that I work with and be their cheerleader every step of the way as they’re climbing up that mountain" — very inspirational, Tammy! Yes, we have to just keep climbing and we will eventually answer those 3 questions that Wesch's students asked themselves over and over again and like you say remind ourselves that life is not a race but a journey :)

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  3. AnonymousJune 30, 2021 at 5:51 AM

    I love your connection to your own family Tamera!

    ReplyDelete
  4. LesleyJune 30, 2021 at 8:05 AM

    I am always looking for ways to create that support up the mountain -- how can we encourage each other to succeed rather than getting wrapped up in individual successes? I loved reading this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJune 30, 2021 at 10:22 AM

    I really love this reflection of Wesch! Words are so powerful and we as educators have so much impact over our students and the way they see themselves, not only in the classroom but in the world. If we can instill the lessons that Wesch discussed about not giving up and learning from the trials and tribulations, I believe we will see more progress in education.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Elsie Enid AquinoJuly 1, 2021 at 4:51 PM

    Tamera, I really like the image you chose for your post. It resumes Wesch's main idea about real learning.

    ReplyDelete

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