I literally had goose bumps from watching how passionate he was about his Arcade. He had a vision and never gave up. I like the scene when his father asked if they could go home early because he was tired but he refused. That is what we all need, that drive and desire in all of our careers.
I believe that this little boy leads by example in how important it is to think outside “the box.” His ideas came from his real life experiences, not from those boring fact memorization classes. Yes, he still needs to know how to spell, to be able to write arcade and all his other signs, but he did not need the constant repetition that we as teachers can fall into when we try and help our students to be better students. He just needed some support - from a master learner- and he would have continued to create what he did.
I realize that because of time and the assessments we have to provide, we tend stray away from real life and engaging lessons. But I think that real world issues, posed to children will help them be more engaged, be better prepared, have more practice for the real world, and leave more of an impression than old fashioned lecture type instruction. I would rather ask my learners to find a solution for kids that can’t get to school on time. How can we come up with a solution for that. I think that if they work through a real life issue like this they can learn more than if we read a story and answered questions about it.
I want to be like Caine. I want to have that much creativity, perseverance, and dedication to my career as “master learner.”