Wild Things Creativ;

Designing personalized and adaptive learning environments, supporting creativity and well being.

[whenwetalkaboutlove]

“This morning I am wonderfully peaceful. Just like a storm that has spent itself.”

—

Virginia Woolf, The Complete Works of Virginia Woolf; Selected Diaries

Read more at wordsnquotes

(via wnq-quotes)

[dwellinginpossibility]

New Things

Thank you for sticking around all these months and the long silences between posts...my life has changed so much in the last year. I am facing new adventures, new beginnings and new challenges. With all this newness, and because 2017 is still young, I’ve decided to leave behind this little space of possibility. I’ll be blogging regularly somewhere new--and it will be a new home for Wild Things Creativ;

I’ll still be writing about learning, poetry and education, but I’ve become more focused in the last year, and I hope this new adventure will reflect that focus. 

If you care to follow along still, move over with me to www.foxnbird.wordpress.com

See you on the other side!

[dwellinginpossibility]

Living and Learning

Today I want to share a few of my thoughts regarding learning, and what brought me to study Integral Learning at SDGI.

Learning is organic--it is a natural and inevitable part of living. Creativity is important because it touches parts of our beings that are otherwise untouched, places in our hearts that we can’t explore without the arts. Human life is inherently creative.  Imagination is integral to creativity, and play is inextricably connected to creativity and imagination. Play is a valuable piece of children’s explorations and learning. People are diverse and unique. When we are free to play, to be curious and creative, learning remains a natural part of living life.

Living and learning are in my mind, inseparable. When we separate learning from life, separate people from other people, divide into age groups, grades, class sizes and subjects, we sever learning from life. By disconnecting learning from life, and taking away the freedom to direct our own learning, we put a stopper in creativity and imagination, telling our children that their curiosity, their imaginative worlds, their questions and concerns are unimportant. We prevent real connections and communities from being formed.   Children are people, as important, trustworthy and intelligent as adults. Every person, old or young, deserves the freedom to create their own life.

I want to change this state of disconnect and open up opportunities of creativity and natural learning to others. Like Ivan Illich writes in Deschooling Society, defining education as ‘schooling’ has created a myriad of paradigms that contribute to educational scarcity, maintaining great inequality and social injustice. Opening up our definitions of schooling and learning can open up our society to a creative and vibrant future where education isn’t just something that happens to you or something that you are compelled to do to get a good job. Instead education can become emergent, inclusive and unique to the needs of each learner. 

I am a proponent of self directed learning. Every person has the capacity to direct and create their own learning experiences. As an independent learner myself, I also feel it is valuable to have access to mentors and a community that one can share and discuss ideas with. I dream of starting a peaceful organization that supports alternatives in learning, free play, focusing strongly on education for sustainability and well-being. Providing community opportunities to engage creatively in many art modalities, learning in and with a community of deeply engaged people.  

[dwellinginpossibility]

Cafe Conversations

I’ve had an interesting few weeks, I had the opportunity to attend a series of workshops at the London Bubble Theatre Company last week. The workshops focused on engaging community members in conversations and theatre projects about local and global issues. 

I also took one afternoon to sit in a cafe and see if I could invite strangers to engage in a conversation with me. I was really nervous--and I had very low expectations. I thought about many different ways to approach this experiment and prepared a list of questions to start with, different ways to engage people.

I eventually decided to just prop a piece of paper on the table that was inspired by a sign in a cafe that I’d visited a few days earlier. The cafe sign read “Howare youtoday means How are you today?” We rush past people so often in the day to day and spit out our greetings and respond so quickly we rarely think of how we’re actually doing, or pause to consider the responses from the people around us. Because part of this conversation experiment is about connecting with people on a deeper level, I thought that simply inviting people to talk about their day, and really listening, would be a good place to start. So the paper on my table read “How are you today? I’d like to listen.” I sat at a table outside on the street under a large canopy. I thought I might be more likely to catch people passing by as well as cafe customers. 

I determined to stay at the cafe for one hour to observe, to listen and see what might happen!

In that hour, many people passed by the table, some smiled, some appeared not to notice--and three people stopped briefly to talk. Not counting the barista wiping tables who paused in her work to smile and say good morning.  None of the three sat down, the first fellow smiled a little awkwardly, asked me for the time and then with a quiet thank you, and one last brief look at the paper on the table, walked away. 

A few minutes later a woman pushing a bicycle came by and stopped briefly. She was on a ‘carbon diet’ and was excited to tell someone about her experiences using her bicycle in place of her car, and how her husband couldn't’ seem to understand why she cared so much. She didn’t ask me anything, just shared her story and then hopped on her cycle and hurried away. 

I waited a long time afterwards for anyone to stop--just before my hour was up an older man paused next to me, coffee in hand and jumped immediately into a narrative of oil prices and the loss of heritage buildings.  He didn’t really finish speaking to me, his words trailed off and he looked at his watch and said he needed to get the next train and took off down the street. 

In all these brief interactions, I never felt the need to jump in and talk myself--I responded occasionally as needed, but simply held space for each speaker. 

It was an interesting experience. I’m still digesting it. I think it’s something I would certainly like to do again.  My hope in this experience was to see if connecting with strangers in a public place was possible, and where it might lead. It took me some time to become willing to lay down my guard and open myself to conversations with strangers--I was curious to see if it was easy for others. All of the people who spoke to me in the cafe were older--no one near my own age stopped to talk. I’m starting to think as well about generational differences and how that impacts the community connections we build. 

One of the theater workshops I attended discussed how they engaged community members in their productions by engaging them in conversations, by interviewing members of the community and inviting them to be co-creators of the theatre projects. They commented on how they were able to engage people who had never had any interest in theatre before, people from all walks of life making connections with people they had never met before. 

After my cafe conversations, I wonder if this experience is another process that can be used as part of inviting community members to engage in theatre projects. 

I’ve just received Community Performance: An introduction by Petra Kuppers in the mail and I think that’s the work I’m going to start next--I’m intrigued by my experience in the cafe and how it might relate to community theatre experiences. 

[dwellinginpossibility]

Community Narratives and Dialogue

I’ve been thinking more about community this week, and bringing people together in communities. I’ve been working my way through Margaret Wheatley’s “Turning to One Another” an exploration of conversation and community. 

How do people connect? I think it’s through our stories--from our shared narratives to the stories of how we are different that bring us together. I remember attending a play several years ago about the lives of the Bronte sisters. Emily Bronte strode across the stage in one particularly memorable moment and asked her sisters “Why must we be heard? Why is it not enough to to just be?”

We all want to be heard--so that we can sink into being knowing that someone has heard our story. I think we can just be, once we know we’ve been heard. 

We live in some sense, in a very disconnected and fragmented society. I log into social media every day and see people standing on their distant soapboxes demanding attention, validation and acceptance. These calls are usually met with loud and opposing opinions that turn into an argument with neither party listening to the other.  Our world is chaotic and distant--and as times become difficult for people across the world, how can we learn to be together in creative, caring communities? 

I suggest that in order to connect with those around us--we need to hear stories and share stories. Margaret Wheatley wrote: “We need time to sit together, to listen, to worry and dream together...we need to reclaim time to be together.”

It’s about holding space for conversations that bring people together--listening to one another in a gentle way and feeling free to share your own stories. That’s one piece that’s always intrigued me about theatre. Theatre is a storytelling form, a space for people to enter into dialogue, to share stories through sound, words and movement. In the theatre space, one is able to share difficult stories through the lense of another character. It provides space for listening and understanding as actors and audience members hear stories and through the medium of theatre are able to pause and listen in a particular way. 

Everyone has a story, everyone wants to tell their story, to connect. I think theatre is a powerful tool for connecting and starting community conversations, because there is space for dialogue, but also silence. Silence gives the speaker and the listener space to see themselves, to hear themselves. 

Early in Turning to One Another, Margaret Wheatley wrote “Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell someone our story, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.”

This, I think, is a first step in bringing communities together(whether rooms full of strangers or lifelong neighbors)--telling our stories and listening to the stories of others. It’s through our stories that we recognize our shared ways of seeing the world, as well as the things that make us delightfully different. 

Community narrative experiences can build a relationship between individual empowerment and community connections that are vital to maintaining vibrant community. How can theatre be used as tool to start these dialogues and shape the narrative experience?  Can participatory theatre become a forum for community conversation? 

There is a sort of circular notion I’m entertaining right now--I’m thinking about vulnerability. How trust and vulnerability may be important pieces in community connections. I think trust is essential in belonging to community, and trust is connected to the way we listen and we way we are heard(by ourselves and the people around us).  It’s about more than having a sense of self confidence or self worth. It’s about the individual trusting themselves enough to move from confidence into action, becoming empowered to contribute to a community and having enough trust to provide that listening space for others. I think I’m talking about self trust in a more intuitive sense than an ego sense. It’s just knowing oneself--trusting that one has the ability to figure out the answers and to engage with others in a trusting manner.  Maybe it’s more than that--but this is what I’ve been thinking about as I’ve worked my way through Wheatley’s book this week. 

I was completing my reading in a cafe earlier this week and I paused to refill my mug of tea and watch the people around me. I was struck by the buzz and hum of the cafe, but also by how many people were sitting by themselves. Flipping through phones or newspapers, or like myself, simply watching the cafe movement. I’d like to sit in a cafe with a sign propped up on the table. I’d like to write ‘Free Coffee with Conversation’ on the sign and see how many people would come and chat with me. Could I devise a set of questions--like an ice breaker--to start the conversation? Or could I just set back and see what happens? Perhaps I could start where Studs Terkel(a prolific journalist and life time listener) left off and ask people to sit down and tell me their dreams? How many people would join me at the table and tell me their story? 

And think that’s where I’ll leave this post for today--maybe I’ll set up shop in a cafe this weekend and see what happens! Although I’ve also been thinking about dialogue and conversation--maybe I’ll spend some time thinking about the question of conversation and see what the leads me to this weekend. 

[coffeeandmeditation]

A constructive, useful life, good works, and good relationships are as valid as writing poetry or inventing a machine. Anything that one does well and obtains satisfaction from is a good enough reason for living. To be a decent human being that people like and feel better for knowing is enough.

Robert Gould (via coffeeandmeditation)

[dwellinginpossibility]

What is Vibrant Community?

In this semester of my study of integral learning, I will be exploring Theatre, Storytelling and Community Conversations. 

I’ve always felt that theatre can be a powerful tool for engaging community members in powerful conversations, in engaging people of all ages in connecting to each other, sharing narratives and stories that bring us close together. 

Throughout my course of study, I’ll be studying and exploring a number of different ideas and topics. Today I’d like to start by defining what I mean by vibrant community (I expect my ideas to evolve as I study, but here is where I’m starting from).

So what is community? We’re all familiar with communities--neighborhoods, workplaces or towns, community is people living, learning and working together. 

What do I mean by vibrant community? I see vibrant community as a more positive, integral and connected community. Vibrant communities are creative, connected places where people work together to build, support and sustain the whole.  Rather than living in an individualistic way, members of the community are connected and invested in the strength of the whole community. There are opportunities for creativity, places to connect and share conversations; to work together for a more beautiful world.  Vibrant communities are largely self organized, using the community resources and strengths that each person brings. Vibrant community members trust themselves and their ability to direct, lead and sustain their own communities. 

For me, vibrant community is about building a connected, compassionate community that works together on creative, social innovations that support community and individual growth. 

What does vibrant community mean to you?

[coffeeandmeditation]

What each of us believes in is up to us, but life is impossible without believing in something.

Kentetsu Takamori (via coffeeandmeditation)

[dwellinginpossibility]

Audio Synthesis of the History of Schooling

[dwellinginpossibility]

What if?

In this moment of my life, I facilitate environmental education programs at schools, libraries and other organizations.

On Saturday I visited a local library to facilitate a program about cleaning products and the environment. The program was open to youth, and I ended up with a nice group of 8 young boys around 12 and 13 years of age. In the course of the program, participants get to experiment by creating their own ‘green cleaners’. I introduced the ideas and the goal for the activities then let the boys get started! As the program wound down, we were all sitting around the table chatting about baking soda and vinegar explosions, the smell of olive oil and lemon juice and a few other random things. One of the boys leaned over to another and said--”Don’t you think class would be great if it was like this all the time?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like if class was always doing really interesting things and then just talking about it. Talking about explosions and truth and belief and just learning from the things we do and the things we talk about.”

“Yeah! Just think of the awesome things we could actually do!”

I was blown away by this insight from the youth--their ability to see the value in this open ended learning experience and articulate it.

What if learning really did look like that? What if classes were really children, youth and adults working together to share their interests, to do really cool stuff and talk abotu it? It’s in these every day conversations--these rich moments of connection and inspiration that the greatest learning happens.

It’s moments like this that make me even more determined to design and open a self-directed learning centre for children and youth. I would have loved to be able to say to these youth, “Hey guess what! Class can be like this every day! And you know what? There’s a place right here in this city where you can do it!”

[dwellinginpossibility]

Learning is a part of Living

Today I asked a six year old “Are you excited for the last day of school? Its today!” 

He wrinkled his nose and shook his head, “No, because I like learning! I want to keep learning.”

I was surprised, but answered quickly. “Learning doesn’t have to stop when school is out! You can keep learning all the time.”

He looked genuinely confused. “How?” I went on to explain how learning to ride a bike in the summer is still learning, how asking his mom for the time is still learning...how watching bugs in the grass and reading a book is still learning, and watched his face twist with confusion. 

He insisted that my suggestions had nothing to do with learning, “Only with Mrs. R is learning. Those other things aren’t learning.”

It made me stop and think about the story he is being told. Right now, even before he is tall enough to reach the kitchen sink by himself he is being told a powerful story that has a direct impact on the course of his life. 

This boy is being told that learning only happens in school, under direction of an adult. He is being told that learning is something that someone else does to you. He is being told that the skills he gains in learning to ride a bike by himself have no inherent value if they cannot be quantified. He is being told that asking questions about the things that interest him is not a productive way to learn. He is being told that he does not have the ability to learn autonomously. He is being told a story that will inevitably tell him he is not capable of taking initiative and moving forward on his own. He is being told that regardless of his own skills and curiosities, he requires external structure and authority to make decisions and explore the world.

This is incredibly limiting, if not damaging. 

We are all stories...we are all the parts of the stories we have loved, the stories we have lived and the stories we have been told.  The stories we are told direct the course of our culture. Maybe its time to change the stories we tell.

Let’s make sure we’re sharing the right stories with our young ones. 

[dwellinginpossibility]

What I’ve been doing lately. 

[dwellinginpossibility]

Social Emotional Learning

Richard Davidson, a professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Harvard University has done powerful research about social emotional learning. In a presentation in New York in 2007, he talked about the Heart-Brain Connection. (you can find the video and transcript here)

He talks about neuroplasticity and the brain, and how we know that environmental factors impact brain development, towards the end, he talks about the importance of including social and emotional skill development in learning. I think it’s definitely worth thinking about, here is a quote: 

"I've tried to show you that the brain is plastic. It's built to change in response to experience. The prefrontal cortex is absolutely key. We call it a convergence zone for affect and cognition or thought and feeling. And we also know that negative emotions will interfere with cognitive prefrontal function that is with cognitive operations that are occurring in the prefrontal cortex. Social-emotional learning is an empirically verified strategy to improve skills of emotion regulation and social adaptation and, as such, social-emotional learning likely produces beneficial changes in the brain. Education that shapes the child's brain and likely produces these kinds of alterations lay the foundation for all future learning for emotion regulation and for social functioning. Qualities such as patience, calmness, cooperation and kindness should really now best be regarded as skills that can be trained. They are not traits that we are irrevocably given by our early environment or by our genetics but everything we now know about the brain, including down to the level of gene expression, indicates that training like social and emotional learning can shape the brain and literally change gene expression in the brain."

[dwellinginpossibility]

Interview with Unschooling Parent Part 1

I’d like you all to meet Joan—photographer, birding enthusiast and outdoor adventure seeker. She also happens to be the unschooling mother of six(mostly grown) children. 

Curious about her experiences as a traditionally schooled adult who chose to encourage self directed learning in her family, I decided to sit down with her and ask a few questions. 

Q: Obviously, as an unschooling parent you believe in self-directed learning. What are the difficulties you have encountered—if any—in encouraging self-directed learning in your home?

A: It is hard sometimes for adults to actually sit back and let the learning happen. Really, self-directed learning can only work if the adults(parents) involved don’t force their expectations on their children.—such as, Danny will love to play guitar, I’ll put him in guitar lessons right now! Then when Danny doesn’t love guitar, you become very disappointed and practising the guitar becomes a chore, because you paid for it and he just doesn’t understand he’ll be grateful for the experience one day! Another example is…Suzy isn’t reading yet, she’s eight years old, better sit down with her and drill her until she gets it. Children learn what they need to when they are ready for it, and when it is relevant to them. We’re all natural born learners, and as such, we all have our own natural learning paces. You have to provide an environment of trust, that provides a balance of space and responsibility where self-directed learning can occur.

Q: I imagine that being able to ‘trust the process’ isn’t always easy. As a parent, have you ever struggled with your ability to trust?

A: Absolutely. There were some days that I definitely started panicking, thinking…what if they never decide that they need to know how to balance a chequebook? But I came to realize that when learning is a natural part of living life…those kinds of things, like learning the math skills necessary to balance a chequebook or learning to tell time occur so naturally. They occur as a result of living and following our natural curiosity. They occur by asking and answering questions—by having a question and having the space to be able to pursue it until you are satisfied with the answer. The motivation for learning remains intrinsic, and the learning never stops. 

Q: How did you SEE your children learning?

A: Sometimes when I panicked I asked my kids what the heck they were learning. Sometimes I’d sit down with notebook and just say…tell me something you’ve learned lately. It was always quite amazing what they were learning, and it was never what I expected they would be learning. Very seldom what I thought they should be learning. Sometimes I just watched or listened. Children’s conversations are a great way of discovering the learning that is occurring in their world at the time.  Sometimes I just didn’t have time to worry about it.  There were also times I felt like we were going about it in such a way that I felt that the kids didn’t have enough spare time to learn at their leisure. We ended up so scheduled with field trips and classes and workshops. 

I definitely saw the kids learning through their conversations, their interactions with friends and through the games they would play. I could see them learning through things as simple as reading the back of a cereal box and then asking me what nutritional value sugar really had…

Q:  Have you noticed anything that your children have or do not have when compared to children from different educational backgrounds?

A: What did I notice most?  They have a longer attention span. I’ve noticed that in general, kids who have access to alternative forms of education are friendlier—especially teenagers. My teenagers aren’t very moody, they’re not afraid of conversations with adults.  They’re gutsy—my 11 year old walked into the local vet clinic and asked for a volunteer position so she could learn more about animals. I offered to go with her but she told me, no thanks mom! 

TO BE CONTINUED               

[dwellinginpossibility]

Learning in Relationship

About four months ago I started working with a teenager who recently decided to take a year and try learning at home.  Her family asked if I would be willing to support her in her learning experiences.

This has been an incredible experience for me...we meet twice a week to plan and learn together.

I am continually impressed by the flow of natural learning when a learner has the space to become responsible for their own learning...supported by relationships.

We often meet at the local cafe and sit side by side with our reading, writing or other projects.

Our days are full of learning through our conversations and interactions with each other...learning flowing from questions and ideas that arise in the moment.

"I've always wondered..."

"What does bohemian mean?"

"Here, listen to this..the structure of a living system is not fixed..."

"Have you ever thought about.."

"What did swimsuits look like in the 1800's?"

“How do you feel about that?”

Learning emerges from the questions we share, the connections we make...a natural process of exploration and discovery that occurs from our learning in relationship.

I am awed by the connections and learning that is exploding in the world of this young woman--and I think that the reason for our success is that we are coming together as legitimate others--in that we accept our coexistence without the need for justification, there is no pressure or expectation in our relationship. We simply arrive together, aware and accepting of our inherent legitimacy. From this place of acceptance, we pursue our interests and passions together and learning is a natural result. 

As I look back on these experiences with this homeschooling teenager, I can see that the days we were less successful and completed by our process of learning, were the days where one or both of us succumbed to outward expectations(from parents or facilitators) and dropped out of that awareness of the other as inherently legitimate. 

I'm discovering that our relationships are an integral source of learning.  We are involved in relationships all the time, in all places, in all stages of development. Learning in loving relationship provides space for new experiences, new ideas and the ability to see connections and discover meaning.   

Together, in our relationship as learners, this young woman and I are making new connections every day as we explore the things that interest us. I'm incredibly excited to continue this process with this learner--with an increased awareness of the expansion of intelligence that the relational domain of love provides. (for more on this, see Maturana on the Biology of Love)

Learning is our movement through life, the progression of our growth and development--and the growing awareness of our own processes. 

Positive relationships provide space for reflection and inspiration to take place. The emergence of wisdom. 

I love this experience of genuine learning...contrasted by the experience of learning under pressure, motivated by fear of failure and competing with others instead of working together to expand intelligence. 

I look forward to beginning this week thinking more carefully about my relationship with others, especially in the context of facilitating learning. 

[dwellinginpossibility]

Working With Children Pt 2

I find myself again in that frustrating position: working alongside an institution that I feel is ultimately dysfunctional and damaging. The work I do is not part of the system, but it does support it and its organization in a way.

I am again working in After School Care, where I have been able to contribute greatly to the structure and program plans. I have had the opportunity to encourage outdoor play and creative arts experiences.

My experience in this program has been far more open ended and positive in its approach, than past experiences. Even so I am finding myself again frustrated in my unintentional support of a system I do not agree with.

There are many good people working very hard within the traditional school system, but they are time and time again frustrated by the limitations of the organizational structure and its paradigms. Many teachers do not even know that there alternative ways to communicate, resolve conflict, and enhance learning experiences. 

When did it become 'right' to take a child to a stranger in an even stranger building and drop them off sobbing every morning for months? We would never put an adult through an experience like that.

Imagine if I took you, the seasoned adult, to a place that frightened you(what ever that might look like), full of strangers, who expect you to comply to a specific standard of behaviour. Imagine the strangers in this place critiquing you for not meeting their expectations--when their expectations are not even fully understood by you.

Imagine feeling the need to express yourself and being ignored again, and again. Imagine being hurried through unfamiliar tasks, and not often receiving the support to finish them.

Imagine yourself here, finding something that finally intrigues you, makes sense--makes you feel successful--and having to push past it to complete other tasks that have no relevance to you.

Imagine being in this uncomfortable place...and having the person you love most, drop you off in this building and despite your pleas, leave you crying at the door, day after day after day. 

We would never do this to an adult. When did it become right to treat children this way?

Yes, it is important to stretch our boundaries, to learn, to leave our comfort zones. Yes, sometimes we need encouragement and an extra push to do these things. 

But no, we do not need to treat our children in such a disrespectful way in order to ensure that they become competent, successful human beings.

(I often hear the argument that this is preparation for real life. I offer the return that perhaps instead of preparing our children for participation in a real life that is so insane, we should support them in becoming agents of change and aid them in the creation of new systems and social technologies that work towards a more hopeful reality. But that is for another post.)

We are ignoring the fact that despite their age and size, children are human beings. They feel, and love, and hope, and hurt just as adults do. They are whole people, already. They have real dreams, real ideas and have the same right to opinions and expression that any adult does. 

In our pursuit of academic achievement, we are ignoring the importance building skills for lifelong learning, and education for the whole being.  We are focused on inspection and assessment(social technologies designed to standardise behaviour). Assessment is primarily concerned with compliance rather than showing that a student has gained understanding of ideas and learning processes. 

Most teachers do not know this...they do not know that it is possible to successfully design and run an education system that does not rely on these social technologies that are no longer valid. 

For example, I observed in one instance, a boy taking out a toy skateboard and running it across the length of his desk. His teacher admonished him, instructed him to put it away. He didn't respond in the way the adult wanted him to, and was summarily dismissed from the class. I was saddened by this incident, as the teacher had missed a great opportunity to connect with the student, build a relationship and following the interest of the student, connect the skateboard to a topic in the class--which would have instantly made the learning relevant to this child and provided him an opportunity to actively participate in directing his learning. This simple action would have re-engaged this struggling student in his learning. Unfortunately, teachers are not given the space or freedom to seize upon those moments because the structure of the system does not allow it. Therefore, the teacher as a part of the organization can only do what the structure allows her to do. 

The way we speak to people matters. The way we listen(or don't listen) matters. All relationships are learning relationships. We know this, and apply this to our dealings in relationships with adults--why do we not apply this to our relationships with children? 

I am tired of supporting an authoritative, compliance-seeking way of being and working with children. I am tired of being expected in my roles as an adult to direct children's movements, to prevent them from following their interests. I am tired of being expected to mediate disputes, instead of providing the space for children to learn empathy and conflict resolution skills. 

Once again, I find myself feeling like I am being untrue to myself...

I believe that children are whole beings, who deserve respect and to be heard. I believe that play is vital to developing social and emotional skills as well as creative abilities. I believe that children deserve the opportunity to self design their own learning experiences with the support of adults who are willing to learn alongside the child. 

I do not want to support the practices I do not believe in any more. I do not know where this will lead me...but I do know that I need to change what I am doing now, and start supporting the practices I believe in. 

[dwellinginpossibility]

Working with Children Part 1

My first year on my own as an adult,  I found myself working in an After School Care program while I was studying Speech and Drama. The After School Care program  was my first lengthy experience working with the public school system. 

My daily responsibility was to provide supervision and activities for elementary students during their lunch hour and recess. The way the program was set up allowed me first hand observation of classroom settings. Every day I arrived 30 minutes prior to the lunch hour, and after a brief team meeting, went to wait outside of the classroom I was assigned to for that day. Some days, there were students sitting out in the hallway. Some days the door was open, and conversation filtered out into the hall. 

I remember my very first week of work being intensely frustrating, I was irritated by the arbitrary time limits. I was startled by a student banished to the hallway for chewing gum in class. I was particularly impacted by a by a young girl in foster care, who was having extreme difficulties focusing on learning in the classroom because of her anxiety about her living situation. Day after day I listened to teachers complain about her disruptive behaviour and her lack of comprehension. 

As I spent more and more time with her, I listened to her doubts, to her fears, her frustrations. The difficulties surrounding her family life were all consuming, her brain was wholly focused on those challenges. School was frustrating because she needed space and support to process the struggles in her home life. Instead of finding support, she was pushed to do and understand things she wasn't ready, or able to do. 

I found myself desperately wanting to provide her with the experience and environment that would allow her to assume some measure of control over her life, to offer her individual support in her learning, and allow her the space to play, and run and express herself. However the limitations of my position in the After School Care program kept me from doing that--and all I was able to do was listen, every lunch hour. I hoped it was enough. 

I came to a point where I was frustrated and furious at the requirements of my job--the ones that asked me to be the adult who said, "Don't slide down the slide backwards, its dangerous."

"You can't play soccer by the fence, its too far away from the playground supervisor."

"You can't stay outside longer, I know its nice outside, but lunch is over."

"No, you can't go outside yet, you must finish your sandwich in here at the table first."

"No, you can't sit by the door here and read, you must come out to the playground."

I didn't agree with any of these stipulations designed to enforce certain behavioural norms. I felt like I wasn't being true to myself. And so one day, I quit. I walked away from that job with the intent to spend my future efforts on treating children like people, on showing adults how to work with children in a way that encourages relational learning and cooperation rather than compliance with arbitrary stipulations. 

To Be Continued