As I embark on this new blog, I want to articulate some of
my deepest-held tenets concerning education and life. Any time I contemplate this far-ranging
topic, my brain goes into overload.
There are so many things I want to share, both with former students and
fellow educators.
The main stumbling
block is having a system of meaningful organization within the vast realm of
educational topics.
So rather than submit an intricately outlined document to
you, a polished finished work, allow me to share some “gleanings.” Because that is the way my educational
philosophy has come to me. Not in a
neatly packaged final product, but in a fluid, flexible, adaptable manner. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that my
philosophy has been impacted by every event in my memory banks to some degree.
The love and compassion of my parents in my pre-school years
may have been a reason I hated school from the very start. That’s right—I HATED it! I wanted to go HOME-- where I was loved! It was the same emotion my father expressed about
school in a junior college autobiography in 1932. But we both LOVED LEARNING. And there’s a distinction between school and
learning. I can’t condemn all the
practices of education in the 1960’s, because they were obviously successful in
transmitting the basic skills I would need.
And my own shy personality prevented me from gaining some of the social
advantages school fosters. But sadly, many things showed me what school should not be like.
Through increasingly positive high school experiences, then
a transformational period which included college at UNC-Chapel Hill and summers
at Camp Cherokee for Boys, my interests, gifts, and opportunities came
together. Looking back, I can see that
even the most unpleasant memories of school were as important as the happy ones
in helping me formulate my own teaching philosophy. The worst, least effective, and most unjust
practices I witnessed caused me to evaluate everything I did in the classroom
through the memory of my own child’s eye.
I believe this empathy, being able to project myself into the viewpoint
of my students, is responsible for a large part of my success as a
teacher. Each time I approached a lesson
or topic, I asked myself: “Is this subject intrinsically motivating to a child,
or do I need to devise a ‘hook’ of sorts?”
I had learned from my mentor Jane McConnell at Camp Cherokee, “There are
999 ways to reach a child. And when all
of those have failed, there’s still one more.”
In other words, there’s always another path to success. And I strongly believe that was just as
important with behavioral issues as academic ones.
My other Camp Cherokee mentor was Don Moore, a Moore County
Schools master teacher at Southern Pines.
He was instrumental in my change of majors to elementary education, and
then my application to Moore County. Dr.
Jim Brock gave me my chance at Sandhills Farm Life Elementary in 1975. He gently guided me through the learning
curve of my first years. He and a
succession of other fine principals gave me the professional liberty to think
and teach “outside the box” throughout my career. As I gleaned techniques and wisdom from other
teachers, from workshops, and most of all through classroom experience, I
matured into a more effective teacher.
There has been much national research into educational “best practices.” The classroom itself was my laboratory for 33
years, and as I grew, I added, subtracted, adapted, and tweaked my approach, to
arrive at my own “best practices.” Over and over, I have thanked God for giving me the family, the experiences, and the open doors that have brought me through six decades with an abiding sense of great happiness and fulfillment. I am thankful for God's wisdom and love, and for those same qualities in people He brought into my life.
Future posts on this blog will examine some of my strongly
held beliefs in detail. I will examine
some successful lessons, techniques, and ideas.
I will show samples of student activities designed with motivation and
success in mind. And there will be a
wealth of memories for former students, including photos, notes, and even
samples of our writing. I plan to add
frequently, so I hope you will be a regular guest, whether you are a friend, a
former student, a parent, or an educator.
And a few of you out there fall into ALL FOUR of those categories! You are all welcome to revisit Mr. Loyd’s
Adventure Classroom.
Each new post will be announced on Facebook
and comments
are welcome.
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