Get the RSS feed | Grant Zimmerman Archives

Which is More Important: The Journey or the Destination?
by Grant Zimmerman


 

Parthenon modelSometimes, like most people, I start thinking about how life relates to what students learn in school. I guess the recent trip to Maine fueled the debate about what part of a trip is more important: The journey or the destination?
Like most open-ended questions, the answers are complex and lie somewhere in-between. In this discussion the idea of distance and planning surfaced as defendable arguments in the debate. If you live close to a fabulous resort like the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV then you may not think much about the two or three hour drive to one of America’s grand hotels/spas/golf courses. Where you are going seems more important. If the destination, however, resides a much greater distance from home, say a two or three day drive, than we would naturally spend more time planning the journey than we would if the trip were just a couple of hours away. Therefore, the journey to the destination becomes as important, if not more, than being at the destination.
Teachers understand the journey versus destination debate. When a student learns and practices specific skills needed to produce high quality work the journey is sometimes not as important as the destination. Through skilled coaching and formative assessment, children not getting the correct answer to the multiplication problem will learn how to change their calculating process and write down the right answer.  The child may need to retrace his or her steps, but the process isn’t deep enough to do more than just reworking the problem. Hence, the destination, or the correct product, is more important than the journey.
Teachers also understand when planning units of study that combine multiple disciplines how a student gets to the end holds greater importance than the final product. This just means that if you pay attention to journey you will arrive at your desired destination. It seems then, that the level of complexity determines which one, the journey or destination, needs more emphasis.
Here is a project idea that combines the disciplines of career counseling, language arts, art, and STEM. Teachers and students plan, schedule, assess, and manage the project collaboratively. Planning and managing the journey carefully reaps high quality learning.
Perception and Reality
These are the core project components:
1.       Study classical Greek architecture that includes the three groups: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian.
2.       Design and present the plans, construction budget, materials list, quarrying location, and scale model replica of the Parthenon. A full size replica is in Nashville, TN.
3.       Present Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream."
4.       Use the Paideia Seminar plan to discuss the ideas in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Grant Zimmerman is the Senior Education Consultant with Knowledge Network Solutions—Leaders in Technology Integration in Schools. Grant is also on the faculty of The National Paideia Center at the University of North Carolina. He leads educators in Professional Development sessions on the Paideia Seminar, the Paideia Project, and Technology Integration. You can reach Grant at gzimmerman@northcarolina.edu.

 

Post new comment