Art is in the Limitations

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

Yesterday, a wish came true for me and I'm miserable about it. I finally found a school founded on the principles that I believe in.
The "New School" is core beliefs are:

1. Responsive Classroom: "the social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum" and "Academic Choice – increasing student motivation by differentiating instruction and regularly allowing students teacher-structured choices in their work." For more, see: www.originsonline.org

2. Arts integration

3. Thematic teaching

4. Inquiry based learning

So what's the problem?
1. The only position open is for teaching 1st or 2nd grade. I really don't feel I know enough about those little people to teach them well. Their literacy needs alone are enough to send me for the hills. How does one begin to teach a child to read? Learning to read was easy for me and I've really only had success teaching students to read to learn.

2. I'm afraid of actually teaching thematically. I think I need more structure than that. I'm considering another job ( which I haven't been offered yet) to teach at a school using Core Knowledge. What I like about Core Knowledge is the comfort of having a rigidly defined set of objectives to teach for the year. I'd love to take something like that and bring a thematic or inquiry based approach to that. But I need a foundation to start with.

When I asked the principal of this "new school" where they get the curriculum for their content areas, he said, "from the standards. " Anyone who has ever looked at the MN State standards know that they are overly vague to the point of frustration.

Example:

"The student will understand how families live today and in earlier times, recognizing that some aspects change over time while others stay the same."

Or

"The student will demonstrate knowledge of the historical development of past cultures around the world."
These are from the world history standards from K-3.

Also:

"Students will demonstrate knowledge of the historical development of at least three civilizations in Africa, the Americas, Asia, or Europe." which is more helpful.

Compare that with the Core Knowledge equivalent:

"1. The student will identify and label a map of Ancient Greece.
2. The student will write two-four sentences to describe their map of Ancient
Greece.
3. The students will identify at least six characteristics of Athenian Life.
4. The students will describe the similarities and differences between Sparta and
Athens.
5. The students will illustrate and describe an example of a democratic society.
6. The students will answer correctly questions pertaining to history of Ancient
Greece.
7. The students will establish a time line for Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
8. The students will create one symbol each to represent Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle.
9. The students will identify remarks or philosophies for Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle.
10. The students will illustrate and retell one major event in the life of Alexander the
Great.
11. The students will be able to define the words oracle, soothsayer, and sacrifice"

This is from a 2nd grade unit plan for Ancient Greece.

So, I guess what I just learned about myself is that I need structure. And I think students do too.
At the New school, teachers are supposed to write all of their own curriculum every year, year after year. I think I could do that with grades 3 and up, because I know those students well. It would require a lot of hard work and a lot of learning on my part. I would be willing to undertake that journey with those students. With 1st and 2nd graders? I just don't know. There's just so much I need to learn about those students.

Art is about limitations. There is nothing so terrifying as an instructor saying "write about anything." Usually it leads to just endless prose about our one favorite topic, say "aliens versus vampires." It's when a teacher gives us a clearly bound assignment such as "write a narrative about a time you visited someplace special" that things get interesting.

So in short, if I get the job at the Core Knowledge school, I'm going to bring the responsive classroom, the arts, the projects and the inquiry. If I get the job at the new school, I'll be given the rest and I'll bring the core knowledge as a structure.