The Educational World in Grateful Dead Lyrics

This blog post was a joint effort between Starr Sackstein (@mssackstein) and Ross Cooper (@RossCoops31). Click here to explore Starr’s work.

Music has a way of encouraging thought provoking discourse about life. When we listen to the words of our favorite bands, we can find the sage advice applicable to many aspects of learning.

Check out some life lessons brought to you by the Grateful Dead.

1. “You ain’t gonna learn, what you don’t want to know.”
   We need to take chances to move beyond what we think we know, keeping an open mind to truly grow as learners. The choices we are afforded in our professional learning help us propel to deeper understanding.
2. “His job is to shed light, and not to master.”
   As educators, we must harness and build upon the curiosity that exists in young children, and inquiry-based learning is a natural way to make this happen. When engaged in such learning, it is vital that we monitor the information provided to students. Too little information can result in anxious students, while too much can transform exploratory learning into direct instruction.
3. “I’ll get up and fly away, I’ll get up and fly away, fly away.”
   The line between school and home should be blurred, as students constantly leverage the same devices and programs (Google Drive, learning management systems, blogging platforms, etc.) in both environments. Schools must also provide students with time to explore their interests (20 Percent Time, Passion Projects, etc.), and direct instruction should not be used unnecessarily and excessively. If public schools do not satisfy the needs of students and their families, these customers will go elsewhere. Plenty of other options now exist.
4. “Ain’t no time to hate, barely time to wait.”
   Walk into a teacher’s classroom and the first thing you will notice is whether or not the educator has a positive rapport with his students. Does he converse with his students in conversational fashion? Does he compliment in public and constructively criticize in private? Are students provided with choices in regards to their instruction and/or classroom routines?
5. “Ship of fools on a cruel sea, ship of fools sail away from me.”
   Connected educators often live in their own separate world, sometimes overlooking the fact that they are the minority. We gather at conferences, acting as if we can solve the world’s problems (which maybe we can), and we are so passionate and driven that we can easily lose sight of how everyone else may perceive us.
6. “Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.”
   A life lesson of epic proportions. Sometimes when the world seems to be pushing against us as educators, we need to smile and keep moving forward.
7. “We can discover the wonders of nature, rolling in the rushes down by the riverside.”
   All kids can learn about life and the world from experiencing it. What better way to learn about science than by going into nature.
8. “You who choose to lead must follow, But if you fall, you fall alone. If you should stand, then who’s to guide you? If I knew the way, I would take you home.”
   Each of us has a process to learn from and we must make our own mistakes. However, when we work together, we have guides that will make it easier to find our own path in the learning journey.
9. “Some folks trust in reason, others trust in might.”
   In our estimation, the pen is always mightier than the sword and as we teach students to use their words we become a stronger learning community.
10. “Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.”
    Every day we teach the students whose eyes see the world as it is. We have a great obligation to expose them to the truths of what is out there and let them decide for themselves what they want to see.

“Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by it’s own design. Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, I’m done with mine. “

What songs inspire educational wisdom for you? Please share.

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Ross Cooper

I'm an administrator in New York and the coauthor of two books on project based learning.

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