Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wk 1 Reading--Thoughts on Chapter 2
This chapter leads to another thing that I do. I read a lot and have a fairly big vocabulary, but sometimes I just cannot come up with the perfect word--so I make one up. I grew up watching my relatives do this so it was really nothing new. However, after a while, I forget if words are real or ones that I have made up. At the same time, though, as long as everyone understands what you mean, does that really matter?
As I read through this chapter, it seems to me that this world of possibility is where most young children live. When they are excited to come to school and have a great time there, they seem to be living in this world of possibility. As we write our birthday books, they see nothing wrong with “giving” each other very large gifts and sometimes ones that seem odd to an outside observer. For instance, this little girl is giving a friend a house, a cat, and a person for his birthday. Most five year olds couldn’t afford to give a house and none that I know could give a person, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm in the least. The gift was accepted in the spirit in which it was given--freely.
However, as they move into the world of measurement, they often become less and less eager to come to school. It is as if they don’t find joy in it anymore. When something really cool happens, though, like an experiment succeeding or “the lightbulb going off”, you can glimpse that joy from the world of possibility just for a moment again. Maybe that is the reason that a child comes to school at age 4 or 5 almost too excited to learn and within just a few short years seems bored and disinterested.
Sheryl Floyd
Tia,
I see the results of that measurement world everyday at the high school level. I wonder where that joy of learning goes. Why isn't school cool everyday? I incorporated new technology and lessons this year. I did not give one scan tron or question/answer type of test. I did alternative assessments. I gave choices on how projects could be produced and turned in. Did it matter to the students (9th-12th grade)? No.
So, how do THEY find that realm of possibility? Their fires apparently burned out sometime in middle school. By 9th grade, they are jaded, guarded and cynical. Appreciation and openness to possibility is nowhere to be found. I hope future chapters help us help others to find possibility.
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Sheryl,
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering how we lose the freedom of the very young to give freely. I think when you're measured against a standard that you don't understand, you then learn to be afraid of being laughed at or ridiculed. We all want to be part of the acknowledged and the included.
Loretta Burkley