Fantasy or Reality?

My mind floods with exuberance at the mere mention of folklore and myths. One can't help but revert back to their childish tendencies of believing the unbelievable, allowing their imagination to explore unknown territories of fables and fantasies. It's comical to look back at the days where I believed that I could catch Jolly Old Saint Nicholas by baking NyQuil pills in his cookies to be left on Christmas Eve. My naive perception of the world has progressively diminished over the years and I can say with confidence that I am able to differentiate truth from fiction relatively well.

On rare occasions, I will overhear a discussion from my fellow student teachers or faculty at my placement school banter about the "perfect classroom." The two words in conjunction with one another imply the existence of an educational setting in which both the teacher and the students work so harmoniously with one another, that all errors in every facet of learning become nonexistent. I can say with confidence that this concept is a complete myth. There is no such thing as a perfect classroom, BUT we as future educators must never assume that it is too romantic to attempt anyways.

My cooperating teacher is a fantastic mentor whom I've already gained so much knowledge and insight from within the short amount of time we've spent together. While skimming a few articles online, I discovered that my cooperating teacher was executing a teaching model coined by Fisher and Frey called the release of responsibility. "The release of responsibility model of instruction requires that the teacher shift from assuming all the responsibility for performing a task ... to a situation in which the students assume all of the responsibility" (Fisher and Frey, "Effective Use of the Gradual Release of Responsibility"). While my cooperating teacher's classroom retains a very tight-knit, highly organized structure, I feel that most of the success I witness within the environment lies within her ability to transfer the load of responsibility from the teacher's hands to the students'. She provides the content knowledge and necessary tools to deliver the challenges to our students, where then each individual shows prowess and initiative in controlling their own success in the classroom.

The provided photo demonstrates the variations between the teacher-student relationship and how the responsibility shifts from one to the other.

Referring back to my reminiscent babble of myths, a truly perfect classroom setting in which students learn with synchronized precision and accuracy cannot exist. We are not teaching robots; we are teaching human beings who have the greatest potential to learn while making mistakes along the way. The model created by Fisher and Frey provides a framework for myself and all other student teachers to consider while we attempt to construct not the perfect classroom, but a more realistic learning environment we should actually strive for.

"It is literature which for me opened the mysterious and decisive doors of imagination and understanding. To see the way others see. To think the way others think. And above all, to feel."
-Salman Rushdie