As a teacher with 31 years of experience, Mary Ruth McGinn has always sought innovative ways to meet the needs of each of her students. She has spent her entire career in schools where a majority of students speak English as a second language and where poverty significantly impacts the...
Read more
Discover Other Local Blogs
We have a great number of amazing blog posts contributed by our local bloggers. Discover what is happening in your neighborhood by reading their latest posts.
Many children, when confronted with an unfamiliar problem or challenge, dismiss it as too hard, say “I can’t do it,” or “you never taught me this.” They make no attempt to solve the problem or address the situation unless they can clearly see a path for resolution. In other words, they must know beforehand, that they will be successful. A primary goal of the learning process is training ourselves to look at a problem with an open mind, observe carefully what we know, assess what we don’t and determine a strategy of attack. When students embrace this philosophy, they take risks, make mistakes and truly understand that real learning can only happen when failure is a part of the process. Through bouts of frustration, uncertainty and confusion, passion and perseverance will be our guide.
As Philip worked incessantly for fifty minutes on a difficult math problem, I bent down to offer encouragement and noticed what he had written at the top of his paper.
This has become our mantra.
“I don’t know how to do this, but I will figure it out.”
Like this post? Sign up for our Daily Update here.
About Mary Ruth McGinn
As a teacher with 32 years of experience, Mary Ruth McGinn has always sought innovative ways to meet the needs of each of her students. She has spent her entire career in schools where a majority of students speak English as a second language and where poverty significantly impacts the learning experiences and opportunities of students and their families.
Nineteen years ago she had an experience that changed her life and altered her professional path in a profound way. She attended training sessions at The Metropolitan Opera Guild in New York City, spent nine intense days living the process of creating an original opera and learned how to replicate the experience with her students. She then began creating opera with her students and using the process of creating the opera as a vehicle to teach curriculum and life skills. The authentic purpose for learning coupled with the arts provided the perfect stage on which to construct a love for life-long learning.
The profundity of the work, the transformation of the students and a desire to “bring to light” new ideas in education, inspired Mary Ruth to share this way of thinking and learning. In 2006 she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship, sponsored and funded by Teatro Real and Fundación SaludArte in Madrid, and a sabbatical from Montgomery County, to travel to Spain to develop and implement a similar program there. She lived there two years training teachers and working side by side with teachers and students in their classrooms. The reception of the project was overwhelming. Mary Ruth returns to Madrid every summer to train a new team of educators and artists in the process. In the summer of 2018, she joined forces with The Kennedy Center to offer the opera training for teachers in the Washington Metro area. She currently teaches third grade at Stedwick Elementary School in Montgomery Village, Maryland where she is implementing a classroom curriculum based on the principles of authentic learning.
Read more of Mary Ruth's blog Learning for Real.
Engage us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Tweets by @mymcmedia