We’re continuing our conversation on the ideologies of progressive education and how to put them into practice. We’ve talked about the origins of the progressive education movement, the philosophy behind it, and why it works so well for students, families, communities, and teachers.
Now we’re talking to two teachers who have been working in progressive education for a while. We dive into more of the details surrounding putting it into practice.
Sarah Giles teaches in a two-three multi-age classroom at Wickliffe Progressive Elementary School. Tim O’Connor is a middle school mathematics teacher, currently at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. He has many years of experience and has been involved in teaching math in grades six through 12 in England, Ireland, New Zealand, and the US.
We talk about what these progressive schools are doing, how they keep their students engaged, and the barriers blocking progressive education from being introduced to more schools.