Education is a Matter of Building Bridges

This Week with Sara Fitts is using Ralph Ellison's quote "Education is a matter of building bridges" for this post.  This quote sums up what I think is needed in education right now. There are so many, actually too many, "new" ideas being thrown around in education with little thought as to how to implement them in any sense of the word.

I have worked in educational settings where in a one-month period of time the mathematics department (of which I was a member) was told to implement 5 different strategies to improve teaching and learning.  The unfortunate part of this request was the fact that those in leadership positions had no idea that these 5 different strategies could be implemented together to make a stronger statement for improvement.

For example, differentiated instruction is not necessarily separate from flipped learning.  In other words, the two can be "combined" to create a stronger lesson.  That's what bothers me most about education right now - some of the leaders in schools cannot seem to "bridge" the different strategies in order to make stronger lessons and a stronger bridge between teaching and learning.  Remember Venn diagrams?

"Education is a matter of building bridges" where no bridge exists.

There is really no difference between combining strategies and building upon concepts in any lesson. Education should always be about using all available methods to provide the best learning environment for students.  Regardless of the method, strategy, or technique that is being lauded, most can be simply integrated into any lesson seamlessly in order to get the best results for the students.  We must all remember that "education is a matter of building bridges" for students and for teachers.


Sara L Fitts has had more than 30 years of experience in teaching and learning in a variety of settings.  She founded SLF Consulting in 2000 and continues to teach and learn.  For more information about how Sara L Fitts and SLF Consulting can help you or someone you know, please visit our website and like us on Facebook.