Educare – The Learning Story

Fascinating how stories captivate us from birth to death. Each of us is a story line. Each of us hopes that our stories are both exciting and filled with meaning. The story behind this website begins with me and the story of raising six children, teaching for 45 years, Latin and how I have come to view education.

The word education derives from a Latin word – e’ – meaning out of and ducare – meaning to lead. Put the word together and we get the underlying concept of education: To lead out of.

Translated for us, parents and teachers, it means:

Who Am I?

Behind this website is a person, Mary Lou Faddick, whose thinking about education began with teaching high school English and History classes in Massachusetts in 1964. Fresh out of college and eager to solve the world’s current education crisis, I yearned to impart four years of hard-won information and love for my subject to classrooms of enthusiastic learners.

Three things occurred to give me pause in my pursuit of inserting funnel in head and pouring in textbooks of knowledge. One was simple. Most of the kids pulled the funnel out right away and protested mightily. Two was remembering my 7 years of Latin and using some semblance of common sense to reflect on the meaning of the word itself. And three was the perfect wake-up call; having my own children, six of them. The first child had brain cells that kept popping with questions and ideas. Her quest for learning filled chapter after chapter of her story with her insatiable thirst for everything from math to music with basketball and hockey thrown in. The sixth child balked at school and instead took the dryer apart, built a CB radio tower outside his bedroom, and figured out how things worked and how important it was to relate well to others.

As these three story lines developed in my life, I began to take notice and adjust my teaching. The results: remarkable.

• I began to notice each kid in my classes and paid attention to how each one processed their learning.
• I listened to them noticing what interested them, their vocabulary, their successes, their failures and how they approached simple and complex things.
• I connected with them and built a trusting bond.
• I read to them the best literature and invited them happily into the bottomless world of stories.
• I played with the youngest ones and helped the older ones find their passions.
• I went to their games, dance recitals, plays and genuinely enjoyed their accomplishments.
• I cared about each one of them and how their story would develop and grow
• I asked each student to give their very best and if that wasn’t forthcoming, to guide them to that place.
• Gradually, over many years, I developed an intuition, a deep understanding of these young people and trusted them, believed in them, and loved them.

Now, 45 years later What do I wish to accomplish through Educare – The Learning Story?

Education is a living, breathing system that our future depends on and demands. This website is the result of 45 years of experience, hundreds of books, ideas, workshops and conversations with incredible people all focused on how can we best educate our young people.  This wonderful tool that we have available to us – the internet - connects our stories in even more meaningful and generous ways. Being thoughtful and reflective enough to listen to how others think and to see things from new and often unique perspectives broadens our connections and unites us in a common goal.