Traditional vs. Progressive Education

I remember receiving a very traditional education from elementary through high school, meaning teachers would primarily lecture and I would try to do a lot of memorization work. Most of the stuff I had to memorize for exams like dates in history or factual information for math or science went in one ear and out the other and I have pretty much forgotten most of it unless it’s been used and reinforced to date.

I remember one fantastic ancient civilization teacher I had in high school who assigned very creative assignments in which were to use artistic abilities to do assignments and activities and we even had a trip to the museum to reinforce things we were learning. This material stayed with me because I found it so interesting and was able to experience it visually. She had us do a timeline of most influential events of the 20th century because Time magazine had just done an article on that, and we were to illustrate each event with a brief summary. I remember she held mine up to show the class as an example and it made me feel very good to know I had worked so hard on something and been recognized. She even brought in a ball and chain to show us what Gladiators would fight with. It was a very hands-on interesting class.

Having received a traditional education for the most part in elementary and high school, it was extremely difficult for me to adjust to college where we were expected to participate actively in classes. I was very shy and timid and it took me a long time to get over that. It wasn’t until senior year that I finally gained more comfort expressing myself and looking back, I wish I were expected to have a more active role in my earlier education to better prepare me for college and life in general. So I would strive to be a progressive teacher rather than a traditional one. In my mind I see traditional as being more about outcome and lecture-driven and progressive more about the learning process and engaging students in a creative way to retain and apply the knowledge they receive.