Is Your Puzzle Completed?

Education is like a puzzle; all the pieces are needed to complete the picture. The final picture is a student's educational career. Over their years in school they add more pieces after they have learned something new and mastered a subject. This puzzle isn't just about gained knowledge though. Each dedicated teacher they have gets a piece for their students. The involved parent or someone that cares about them gets a piece to add. When the student goes out into their community and gives back, they get another piece. They get a new piece when they make a friend, or when they join an after school group, club, or sports team, they get piece too. After they reach a goal or accomplish something, their puzzle is now more complete.

I see education as a big picture across twelve plus years. School is more than just gaining knowledge and learning facts. It is about the teachers, parents, and administrators who have helped them get there. It is about the friends they made and the activities they got involved in. Students learn life long skills during school, but those aren't always from a text book. I see students learning patience, team work, organization, sharing, creativity, compassion, what is right and wrong, that things aren't always fair, and so much more during school.

When it comes to a puzzle though, when even just one piece is missing, the picture isn't complete. Every piece matters because every component to a student's education is important. Everyone deserves to have a full puzzle completed when they leave school and enter the real world. Most puzzles may be square, but this is how I believe well rounded students are created.

I have learned so much about education through this course. Going in as a non-education major, I learned the basics behind what goes into teaching. There are so many different ways to teach the varying types of students a teach may receive in her classroom. A teacher truly has to be dedicated to her students to understand their needs and base her lessons around them. Support from the school administration and parents at home are crucial to a student's success. These blogs are a creative way to post our ideas and then have a class discussion about that day's entry. I enjoyed reading about everyone's ideas and opinions on education because it helped me think deeper about my own.