Beware of “cute”

Dear teachers on summer vacation,

This is a cautionary post to those of you who are planning on spending hours  browsing through teaching-related Pinterest boards.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Pinterest. Most of my hairstyles, outfits and potluck contributions come from amazing things I have seen on Pinterest!

But when I overhear a teacher saying, “I found something on Pinterest”… I cringe as the following questions swirl around in my mind:

Is it inquiry-based?

Is it in response to students’ questions?

Is it purposeful to learning?

It is concept-driven?

Is there rich, deep thinking involved?

Or…

Is it cute?

Sure, cute looks good up on a bulletin boards, but don’t our young learners deserve something better? Don’t they deserve learning that is significant, relevant, engaging and challenging… no matter how old they are? Can’t they handle the authentic process of growing and changing their understanding of themselves and the world around them? Shouldn’t they be involved in deep thinking and heavy cognitive lifting?

Or do we want them to spend their precious time at school making/doing something cute?

Do I think you could find some great inquiry-based teaching and learning strategies that will help tune into your learners’ interests, curiosities and misconceptions in order to challenge their thinking, make their own discoveries and build their own knowledge? Yes!!!

But I bet you have to discerningly sift through a lot of cute activities before you find them.