Soup!

Here at AUNE we are big believers in innovation and change. We’re willing to explore  just about any idea or theory and see where it takes us- at least theoretically. We love the idea of harnessing the power and energy of idealism. Heck, “Idealism with its sleeves rolled up” is like our second motto around here. (Right behind the every present, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity,” you know.) The only thing we love as much as innovation and change is collaboration. We LOVE collaboration, community, relationships, connections…if it’s about bringing people together to do good things, then we’re all for it.

But you know what else we really love?  Soup. We really enjoy soup. We have an annual soup luncheon to raise money for the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention.  Our lunches, created by Donna and her crew from Monadnock Developmental Services create the most extraordinary carrot- ginger and tomato- cheddar soup- and don’t even get me started on her Italian wedding soup.  Nearly every day there’s something new.  All fresh ingredients, always made from scratch…Donna is a master soup maker. You know why Donna makes such good soup? Because she knows her recipes. Donna’s been making soup forever so she knows from soup. She knows how to adjust the recipe based on what’s in season, what the weather holds, and the students in the building that day.

So  this article from the folks at NEA and TFA would seem to be right up our alley, right?  Even with the response from Diane Ravitch, DailyKos, and the Washington Post.  But here’s the thing:  it seems to me that, in order to make good soup- or be a good teacher- you have to know the recipe well enough to be able to change it. I’m not sure that 5 weeks of training is enough experience to know how to do that. In fact, I’m pretty sure it takes more than that to even remember where the recipe book is- or what the pedagogical options are- so the idea that enthusiasm will make up for inexperience seems…ill advised.

If you want to become a teacher who knows the rules well enough to know when to break them, come talk to us.  If you want to develop the instructional chops to differentiate, facilitate, remediate and accelerate- we’ve got programs for you.  If you want to  commit to teaching as a job worth preparing for with all intention and commitment?

We’ve got some great soup for you.

Advertisement