You may remember the opening lines of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, "My Shadow:"
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
We may, in fact, have found a very good use for the shadow.
Prominent educational psychologist Michael G. Thompson, author of "The Pressured Child," advises us to grow our empathy for what children experience in school day to day. He writes, "Often parents and teachers have forgotten what school actually feels like for a child," and to write his book spent time shadowing students during typical school days. "I learned from them how they solve the problems of school," he writes, "the problems they may never mention" to parents and teachers.
Eighteen Darlington faculty, staff and administrators have volunteered to become the shadow for a variety of students in both divisions. They will accompany a student for an entire school day, doing everything they do (including homework and quizzes), and experiencing what they experience. Afterwards, they will reflect on what they observed and what they learned, then share those insights with all of us via blogs and other means.
We think that this can help us to know what "student centered" means from the inside out. Stay tuned for more!
