The Element

I just finished reading one of the most personally and professionally relevant books I've read in a long time - The Element by Ken Robinson. I attended the PETE&C conference in Hershey this past February and Sir Ken was a keynote. I had not heard of him before this event. When I went to the keynote, I was surprised to find that Mike Hardy and Pam Francis were attending. I later learned that The Element was assigned reading for the A-Team. After attending the keynote address I went to a follow-up session with Sir Ken then went to a book signing and bought the book.

The book touched me in a personal way living with a person who is still searching for his element and also being a person who easily slips into her element. I don't think I'm always very understanding of the struggle to find the element.

Professionally, I was touched by the wide variety of life stories where students who were not well served by our schools went on to do great things. We've all heard some of the more common stories of intelligent kids who didn't do well in school - perhaps with ADHD - but Sir Ken's stories encompass so many more forms of intelligence. During the keynote I found myself thinking about how this should impact what we do in schools. If I were in the classroom how would it change what I do? How could I engage all students more effectively? How could I build the confidence of students who have not experienced success in school? How could I help students feel good about themselves and to discover their element.

My final thoughts about this book relate to the A-Team reading assignment. The superintendent felt the book a worthwhile read but what does that mean? How does that transfer from the superintendent to the classroom? Would I have known about this book were it not for seeing 2 administrators at the keynote address? How do we reconcile the need for meeting students' needs, learning styles, talents, intelligences, etc. with the accountability imposed by standardized testing?