What do you get when you mix a little marble with a little shine? A gorgeous shower!
I’m an educator. For decades, I’ve learned about how we learn and how we teach. I have experienced education in other countries as a teacher and as a learner, and I continue to learn about education systems around the world. One article that caught my attention recently was about the Chinese education system. It’s not so much the text that I was focused on. Instead, it was this photo that had me staring for a long while. It made me think.
I have learned quite a bit about the Chinese education system through friends, colleagues, students, and academic and non-academic articles. While I don’t have first-hand experience, I have heard about the organization. The restrictions. The long hours. The competition. The standardized tests. This photo gives us a glimpse into that Chinese classroom. The space. The textbooks. The hunched over bodies. It’s quite a view. And so very different from our Canadian classrooms.
Here in Canada, we have public, elementary classrooms full of stability balls, stress toys, and markers in every colour. Teachers have Amazon wishlists for parents (or the general public) to purchase supplies for their classrooms. Because how could they ever live without a whiteboard marker holder? Or a range of Command strip hooks?
At the post-secondary level, we have classrooms with chairs on wheels, so students can move around easily to work in groups. We have a walls of whiteboards to encourage problem-solving (when sometimes all we really need is a paper and pencil). We have rooms with several projectors, so that a professor’s PowerPoint presentation can be projected on multiple screens and so that student groups can project their work for ongoing discussion and feedback. The students I meet often complain about purchasing textbooks. About night classes. About morning classes. Phones are brought into classes, and often used for educational purposes. I regularly ask my students to use their phones (or whatever device they have) to look something up, to read something, or to submit work. It is rare for my students to come to the university classroom without a device of sorts.
In many Canadian classrooms, we love space. Students spread out. They don’t seem to like sitting too close to one another. If I teach in a large classroom, for example, students may opt to take one, two, or three spots for themselves, leaving an empty seat (or several) between them and their neighbour. We still have the desks-in-rows seating arrangement, but we’re moving away from this set-up. At the elementary level, this is generally a thing of the past (the long ago past).
Education around the world is so very different, I know. I shouldn’t be surprised to see photos like the one above. But I am. And I’m glad it makes me think about how we teach and learn in different contexts, how my education has given me freedom to learn, and how I can continue to make contributions in my academic work.
Marble is never going out of style, which means I can write about it for years to come! Hooray!
For today’s pair, I’m sharing two smaller marble-look items. First is this simple tumbler with marble base.
The second item is this marble-look coffee maker. I know it would look great on my counter (as if I really need another coffee maker though!), and maybe it would make a great gift for someone in your life!
I recently learned that November 11th is Singles’ Day. The holiday seems to have started with young people in China who use this day to celebrate the pride they have in being single (so Wikipedia tells me). The date – 11/11 – has four single ones in it, and the number one represents a single individual. Not only are singles celebrating, but they’re also shopping! Apparently singles’ day has become the largest offline and online shopping day in the world.
Today I’m sharing a collection of great things that come in ones. We have one heart and one brain, so we should be taking excellent care of both! Dressing is easy when you opt for a one-piece dress or ski suit. A chair is great for an individual. Goggles may be plural, but it’s one piece of plastic to keep your eyes clear under water. Speaking of water, a single pitcher is great for holding a lot of liquid to serve to friends. People generally where one watch to keep track of time even if they may stack it with a collection of bangles (like I usually do). Finally, a unicycle is great for a one-person show!
1. Educated by Tara Westover. This is a true story of Westover’s upbringing as a Morman in a mountain village in Idaho. She stepped into her first classroom at age 17 after growing up isolated and working on her father’s junk yard.
It was excellent. It was engaging and interesting, and I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to learn more and hear more of Tara’s stories. I read a few more stories about her online, including this article where she had this to say about education:
“Education is discovery—it’s your mind growing, taking responsibility, letting go, and holding tight. It’s all of those things. It’s having enough knowledge and empathy for yourself and for other people to make decisions so that you can do well with the things you need to do. It’s that ability to have many different perspectives and different points of view.” (Oprah mag)
2. The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht. Have I already mentioned this one? I can no longer remember. It was long but engaging. It was fantastical and interesting. I didn’t love it as much as everyone else seemed to have loved it, but I liked it, and it’s worth reading.
3. Inland by Téa Obreht. After The Tiger’s Wife, I added Inland to my audiobook queue. I really tried to get into it, but I couldn’t. I actually forced myself to finish it. I feel bad not finishing books. I just couldn’t get attached to the story or the characters.
4. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. It was excellent. It was hard to press stop on this one as I wanted to keep listening to learn how the story unfolded. This is a story about a family’s life in Alaska and the challenging and traumatic interactions between family members
5. Sula by Toni Morrison. I finished Sula this week and enjoyed it. This was the first Toni Morrison novel I have read/listened to, and I’m glad I did. It’s a story of friendship – and betrayal. The story had a nice pace and character development. I have a few other Morrison books in my queue, and I look forward to reading them.
Have a great weekend, everyone!