Summary Post C4T Teacher #3

Michael Kaechele

I read Michael Kaechele's blog from Michigan. The first post I read was "Ode to Concrete". In this post, he described the beauty of concrete that is overlooked on a daily basis. He tells about the different ways to use concrete. He says that concrete is chemistry and science at its finest. He also says that concrete is technology. I had never thought of concrete as technology before now. He says that concrete is hard, and it is sidewalk that scratches knees. I loved this reference to scratching knees. That's the only thing I thought it was good for as a child. I commented that I had never thought about the many different ways of looking at concrete, and I was definitely one of those people who have taken it for granted. I also told him how his post allowed me to see the beauty in concrete that I had never seen before.

The second post of Michael's that I read was "The Alchemist and Louis L'Amour". In this post, he described the book The Alchemist. He asked, "Do we allow space in schools for pursuing dreams?" I agree with him that teachers are too busy covering curriculum and meeting standards, and that standardization drowns out passion and crowds out dreams. He talks about how in the book, Santiago uses many different channels of learning. He learns by living life and observing life and nature everywhere, much like Mr. Kaechele's favorite author as a child, Louis L'Amour. I commented that I agreed with him about standardization. I think that it's very important to encourage imagination and creativity in our students. All of the wonderful advancements our society has had over the years weren't accomplished due to people thinking like everyone else, standard way of thinking, rather, it was due to people thinking like nobody else, creative and imaginative way of thinking.