I am. Weathered white. Tossed, tumbled, washed worn edge. Empty shell I am. I wrote this haiku poem on my first lonely shore walk after my first year of classroom teaching. I had found an old white-washed shell tumbled onto the rocks. It was worn and had lost most of its distinguishing features. It was empty. I was empty. Classroom teaching can require much. Resting and recovering changed to refreshing and restoring myself for the new year ahead. I returned to some of the habits I had developed as a home educating Mum to nourish my heart and mind while raising and teaching my children. Once again I made time to take regular nature walks along the beach and dusted off my old nature journal and a natural history read. I sat under trees and once again enjoyed some books I had been wanting read for quite some time. I listened to music and played the piano and spent time in our garden. I meandered again through the Psalms and the Gospels and rediscovered the grace available to me for each and every day. I connected again with the story of God, the story of humanity, and the story of the world. I connected again with truth, goodness, and beauty. I drank from the well. Now my mind turns again to the classroom I will re-enter in a couple of weeks. Now I consider my lesson plans and begin to prepare. But this is the fun part. This is the preparation I find nourishing because this is where I pre-read the delightful books that will form the spine of our lessons for the term ahead. After this step I will return to the specific content and achievement standards from the Australian Curriculum I will be explicitly teaching from these living books. I will plan key lesson activities, questions, and habits of learning that form the bridge between the Australian Curriculum aspirations and requirements and the ideas to be found and communicated from our living books. As part of my preparation for this first term of 2020 I have been reading these three sources related to the Charlotte Mason method of teaching and how to implement the Australian Curriculum in a multi-level classroom. ~ A Liberal Education for All by Charlotte Mason and Agnus C. Drury (The Parents' Review 1916) ~ A Liberal Education by H.W. Household (The Parents' Review 1929) ~ Enacting Australian Curriculum: Planning issues and strategies for P-10 multiple year level classrooms (2011) And as I make these plans I will endeavour to hold before this golden rule: "Whereby teachers shall teach less and scholars shall learn more." © Amy George, January 2020
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AuthorI teach with the Charlotte Mason method in home education, tutoring and P-12 Christian school contexts in Australia. Archives
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