The mind is never passive; it is a perpetual activity, delicate, receptive, responsive to stimulus. You cannot postpone its life until you have sharpened it. Whatever interest attaches to your subject-matter must be evoked here and now; whatever powers you are strengthening in the pupil, must be exercised here and now; whatever possibilities of mental life your teaching should impart, must be exhibited here and now.
– Alfred North Whitehead
{Have 20 minutes?} Read ANW’s 1916 speech, The Aims of Education, here.
ANW is one of my go-to education heroes and his notion of immediacy challenges me to consider what mathematical experiences are relevant to here and now, rather than the test or the next math class. How do you balance the future-oriented nature of mathematics schooling with the here and now? What do you do in your classroom that evokes interest, exercises strengths, or exhibits possibilities here and now?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section!
