C.L.Steele

A Future Full of Monsters or Miracles?

 

 

 

As I complete my Masters of Education in Leadership I continue to look back onto the books, articles, and news bulletins that announce how our education system is falling apart, falling together, falling on the shoulders of teachers and killing them, or failing our students.  The future of education, the future of curriculum development is full of doom, devastation, and disappointment.  I walked into this program hoping to learn how to be a force of change; to find a way to change Fine Arts curriculum, to change the way we look at arts education. The stacks of books and research I’ve read up until now all say that’s folly.  That the system is far too broken. That the achievement gap is too wide to teach arts. That change is impossible; no one can do it. Why try?  “When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?” (Chuck Palahniuk).  When did we stop looking to the future as full of possibilities for our students and look to the future and see only the dark clouds of an oncoming storm?

 

If I believe that the fine arts, when connected with other academic subjects in a meaningful and creative way can exponentially increase student learning, then I have to tear away the forecast of storms and thunder clouds and believe that it can be done. I have to believe strongly in what I have gained through the MAEd program can help me carve a new path of curriculum development.  I now have many more resources at my fingertips to assist me in my endeavors.

 

I now have a warehouse of knowledge, experience, and research about education, leadership, and curriculum development to use to build my dream and but also to share with other educators.  Nothing can be done alone, and it is only through the sharing of resources that a leader can gather a force that will share their vision and help carry it forwards. I have learned how to facilitate creative thinking groups, to organize peoples strengths so that they can put their best skills forward. I have learned how to make things happen with a driven group of diverse individuals, innovators, and type A personalities. It is through sharing my vision and my learning that I can gather people around me who can help make my passions become realities.  I have also expanded my social network through Twitter and Pinterest which infuses my ideas with new research, new studies, and new lesson plan ideas.  Who better to share what innovations are out there that we can all learn from than teachers who are out teaching every day? Educators are constantly coming up with new innovations that are pushing the boundaries between What We Know We Should Be Teaching and Great New Ways to Teach. It is only through honest conversations with each other and sharing our innovations that we can bring about change.  

 

 

I’m going to have to take what I have gained in the MAEd program at Michigan State University and triumphantly step out of my comfort zone.  I’m going to have to take my new-found technology resources to forge new connections with people I do not know, but might have resources to share. I’m going to have to sit down and put my research skills and Open Educational Resources to the test to dig deeply into curriculum development innovations in the past few years. This is going to take guts, strength and lot of the leadership qualities I’ve discovered in myself through this program. But most of all, it’s going to require me closing my eyes, clutching my dreams, taking my new skills with me, and leaping.

 

 

The news and research coming to the surface of education today seems to herald a scary future for teachers and students. There’s a lot of indecision, unhappiness, and fear regarding our changing purposes of education I have no doubt that there are challenges we are facing right now and there are many obstacles ahead for teachers. I came into this program hoping to become a force for change, to find the skills that would help me build a new kind of curriculum for Fine Arts. I still believe that is possible.  The future can still be a promise and not a threat. The future of education can still be a place of innovation, creativity, possibilities, and passion we just have to believe in our ability to find those who will make that future happen or create it for ourselves.