Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Magic School Bus

Did you ever want your teacher to be Ms. Frizzle?
If you say no, then you never read or saw an episode of the Magic School Bus.  Anyone who's seen the show at some point wishes her as a teacher.  She was fun, you always went on field trips, and she didn't really teach.
Well, you thought she never really taught.  I've seen the start of books where kids were bringing in homework, projects, and preparing for quizzes so there was teaching.  Even what we witness in the books and show is a type of approach to learning.  It looks like project approach to me, but from what I've studied so far that's a more common approach for social studies.  The children are guiding the teacher as they explore through life experience topics of relevant interest to them.  

What teacher doesn't want to be Ms. Frizzle?
From her dress to the funding to gather a magic school bus to the expediency of which field trips are approved to her class size.  She's got it rolling over there. She's got a great attitude and has mastered the art of guiding learning without directing the classroom.  It sounds weird, but that's a great style for early learning environments.

Reading and watching these as a mother and an educator now, they still hold up to what they once were.  Unlike my childhood-self, I can see now where Ms. Frizzle's teaching styles can actually function within a real classroom setting;minus magical field trips... Or is that what our imagination is for?  With smart boards and other such technology assisting us, we can virtual tour almost anything!  We live in an age where we CAN be Ms. Frizzle.

....I think I want to decorate the white board to look like a magic school bus to house the smart board.  

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