Prince Philip Gave Me the Confidence to Make a Difference
I am 18 years old, at a fancy garden party of 2,500 people behind the Parliament Building in Prince Edward Island. There were lessons in learning to curtsey formally and how to be with royalty. I feel like royalty as my family and I have been invited by Prince Philip and Her Majesty the Queen to a once-in-a-lifetime celebration.
What are we celebrating? I had earned the Gold level Duke of Edinburgh International Award. The last few years, mentored by my Ranger (Girl Guide) leader, I worked on this award which the Prince founded, so that youth could develop a sense of confidence, physical fitness, life teaching and adventure. Prince Philip himself wanted to encourage the gold level recipients at a ceremony. When my name was called, I walk across a platform, curtsied and shook Her Majesty's hand. Then Prince Philip spoke to me about my experience in the program. I found him to be friendly, caring and down to earth.
On the Duke of Edinburgh International Award's site, they say, "We believe that not all learning happens in the classroom. In fact, we believe that some of life's biggest lessons happen in the least likely locations." I remember going on a very long hike with friends in the program, arriving at a cottage and spending a couple of days enjoying cottage life without adults around. I also created a budget for a young couple about to move into an apartment. There were several categories with different requirements such as fitness, adventure and design for living. None of these things were experienced through school. Each category was intended to develop skills and build confidence.
As a child, I did not excel at school. Experiential learning (learning by doing) was not usually part of school learning. I wrote about my experience in school, which left me feeling unintelligent, incompetent and like someone who had to work much harder than others just to "be average."
Having activities outside of school, such as the Girl Guides organization and the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Program, helped me develop leadership skills and realize I have other "smarts" the world needs. Age 18 was pivotal for me as that was also the year I decided to become a teacher if I was capable. I did not take that goal for granted after experiencing constant struggles at school. But if I could, I wanted to transform the education system, specifically classroom practice. The way things were done had to change, and I knew it then.
Having the confidence from a program such as the Duke of Edinburgh International Award, I was able to put school struggles into a better perspective. I needed an extra year to get another academic credit at night school and decided to do a one-year secretarial program during the day that year. Those skills have also served me well.
As a teacher, I develop my own style of delivering the curriculum. It is more experiential, and students are allowed to discover their learning. There is less paperwork and more manipulating materials, learning through movement and understanding how to read through the rhythm of songs. Students become characters inside of stories, problem-solving in imaginary worlds. They try out different roles like a wise old king or strict guards to protect the royal family. They interview the perpetrator getting curious enough to understand his/her perspective. They write letters to the government to protect the community from probable pollution with the new candy factory's development. Grade fours solve an erosion problem in the community and learn from the chair of the town council. He comes as a guest to our class and tells the students that the adult council arrived at the same conclusion. In my class, we always talk about how our learning connects to real life, and the conversations are deep. This is real learning. It is relevant and stays with the learners.
Today, after teaching for more than 35 years, I am still on a mission to transform education. Most of us know the current system doesn't support students in the 21st century. So I developed a framework called The Dynamic Teaching Model. It encompasses academics and social and emotional learning (SEL) through whole-brain learning, 21st-century skills and the arts. The arts are not crafts. And is more than technique. It is relationships, self-expression and where we learn what makes us human. It engages the learner emotionally, and that is when cognition happens.
People who do great things for others seldom have had easy lives themselves. I am thankful to Prince Philip as he experienced hardship during his teen years and let that motivate him to develop The Duke of Edinburgh International Award Program. Thank you for what you have done for me and so many others through your work!
AUTHOR
Margaret Boersma, OCT, is an instructional coach, teaching artist, speaker and educational consultant. Her varied career in teaching, combined with her social/emotional learning (SEL) expertise, allows her to assimilate the affective domain (people skills) with academic curriculum goals. She works with school districts and schools in Canada, the U.S, The Netherlands and New Zealand/Australia.