I particularly connected to the episode by Richard Seymour: “How Does Beauty Feel?” All of the episodes have fascinating points of view and underline the human need (emotional, biological, etc.) for beauty in our lives.
To listen: What Is Beauty? : NPR.
If I had to name one key to developing our relationship with parents at the (now closed) Model Early Learning Center, it would be Wendy and her chair. Every morning, Wendy sat at the entrance of the school, and greeted parents and children as they walked through the door. This personal moment gave parents and teacher the opportunity to exchange important information, from a reminder of an upcoming event to a sleepy child who might need an extra hug that day. It also was a beautiful, respectful way of entering the classroom. It made children and families feel welcomed. It helped to connect us as a community.
I was reminded of the power of Wendy in connection with the sentiments in this article:
D.C. students use photography to protest school security – The Washington Post.
“The teacher allows the children to build up to their belly buttons.”
“I love the way the teacher does her block area.”
“We have centers open.”
“I have, in construction, some new…”
“Can someone tell me how to do it?”
“My question is…”
How often does our language, as teachers or adults, convey an attitude of hierarchy? Are we aware of the impact of our words, and the message they send? And on another level, is this what we believe (that the classroom belongs to the teacher, and has a higher status than the children)? If we agree that children and teachers are co-constructers of knowledge, and that we have a strong image of the child as a protagonist (lots of slogans here, I know), how can we be more cognizant about the language we use both in the classroom and in our conversations about teaching and learning?
Often when I talk about slowing down, people really slow down…I mean..they put the brakes on…sort of stop the action. I would like to offer a new way of thinking about “slowing down”: slowing down can be seen as increasing complexity and layers of experience.
This implies taking time to analyze and project, taking time to prepare materials and environments, taking time to revisit and assess, and it also implies a simultaneous action and movement forward to deepen experiences.
Slowing down is the opposite of inaction-it means attention to quality processes and increasing complexity.
Here is a link to the website, but if you can get your hands on a printed copy, seeing the articles all together lets you see the breadth of ways of looking at this topic.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/
Last night I attended an artist’s talk by Gunnar Kaj (www.kaj.se) at the Swedish Embassy. Kaj is a floral designer best known for his work as the lead floral designer for the Nobel Prize ceremony.
Speaking about his creative process, he explained that “Nature can do everything itself, but it is about new arrangements.” His work involves combining new things, and as he explained, “I did the wrong things, things that were not proper, not the expected things.”
He also shared that his work is about meticulous planning in order to create beautiful results. He highlighted collaboration and having a framework (“an idea to work towards”) as important factors in developing his vision.
Some connections I made with my own work:
-the blending of art and science
-the value of collaboration
-intentionality
-importance of planning, even/especially for “creative” processes
-wonder and the unexpected
-beauty
And just some inspirational quotations:
“When I do something and it is beautiful it aches right here (pointing to his breastbone).”
“There are always enough ideas.”
About springtime in Sweden: “It is a wonder every year. You can die for the flowers, when they’re suddenly there again.”
“My work is about ‘alive,’ and the danger of dying. The danger of dying makes them (flowers) carry all the things we want to say.”
“We love flowers because we identify with them. We see ourselves in them in some way.”
The other day I was having a conversation with a group of children about “fastness,” and the focus of the conversation turned to their shoes–the stripes or the “bumpy things” make shoes fast, and certain kinds of shoes, and colors of shoes, in their opinion, make one run faster than other kinds of shoes. I invited the group to draw “fast shoes.” They all sighed at this, and, frankly, declined. Curious, I asked why they didn’t want to draw and one child said, “because it’s hard.”
I have been thinking about this comment a lot. Drawing from life is difficult, because it requires communication and compromise, among other things. The child who said drawing is hard is correct –but why do we shy away from things that challenge us, both adults and children? What atmosphere are we creating at school or at home that does not encourage children to want to tackle things that are hard, challenging, or complicated?
I remember when, many years ago at my first school, the Model Early Learning Center, children did not want to draw. Teachers and Amelia Gambetti (our mentor/consultant) decided to confront this problem head on. We added drawing materials to many areas of the classroom, the construction area, the library, the house. We invited children many, many times, to remember experiences we had together through graphic representation. We, the adults, changed our attitudes towards drawing in order to support pleasurable, joyful time together with drawing as the center of the experience. Drawing became the norm, instead of a dreaded and pressure-filled aspect of our work.
My son had his second parkour class today.
Gem #1 from his teacher, Mark at Primal Fitness:
Gem #2 from Mark: ”The whole team has got to make it.”
Something I didn’t expect from this experience is the collaborative decision making based on individual strengths in order to construct group challenges.
Setting up an obstacle course and gradually making it more difficult by removing pieces, the team had to find a way to get everyone across. This means they had to know each person’s strengths and weaknesses and consider those competencies in order to make the course challenging but accessible to everyone. In order to accomplish the goal they had to think about other people, in relation to their own contribution to the group. It was very interesting to think about this in connection with the culture of the classroom and the predominant focus on the “I” in education.