Post #2: These Things Remain Hidden

Questions, questions and more questions...


After having worked with children in various capacities, I have come to wonder why the opinions and feelings of young children seem to be shrugged off, or discredited based on the age of the child. It seems that we give much more validation to thoughts expressed by adults, professionals, and in our gender-biased world; the male population. I always shudder when I witness adults' reaction to a young child's concern - about something that seems insignificant in the eyes of the adult - regarded as "cute".  I think that the fears, hopes, joys and inquiries made by children are very valid, and must not only be taken seriously, but must be addressed concretely. The answers "it is so because I say", or "we are learning this because it's in the curriculum" do not suffice, and would not be tolerated by an adult, nor should they be tolerated by children.

Educator Aviva Dunsiger's blog is inspirational on many levels, one concrete one being her desire to address and run with the inquiries of her students. Aviva makes constant contributions to her students' interests, and is so willing to change her approach to meet the needs of her unique students. One particular blog post, in particular really captured my attention. Aviva discusses her distaste for Valentine's Day celebrations in the classroom, mostly for the disruption that it creates from planned classroom activities. (here). Instead, Aviva suggests a different celebration. She calls it "Kindness Catchers" and capitalizes on the kindness nuance of Valentine's Day, as opposed to the Hallmark consumerism ideal.  One of my favourite things about this change, is that Aviva was very interested in talking to her students about whether a Valentine's Day party was necessary, finding out what her students hoped to take from their ideal celebration of the holiday, and incorporating those aspects in a much more meaningful way. I appreciate this mentality on so many different levels, mostly because I believe that when the ideas and opinions of other's are validated and seriously considered, compromises are much more readily agreed upon.  

Furthermore, Aviva considered ways of impropriating the 21st century literacies within this redesigned Valentines Day activity. She encouraged her students to present their kindness catches using multimedia tools such as; PicCollage, iMovie, Explain Everything, or Puppet Pals. This way, students use technological literacy skills in combination with skills such as teamwork, collaboration, and abstract thinking. I think the value in this idea is immeasurable.

I value open discussion, and I believe that there is so much learning potential in creating dissonance, and open-mindedness for students. In my experience, situations that caused a little bit of friction, ones that did not sit well with my previous conceptions, and ones that really made me think have been so valuable, and have resulted in deeper level learning. This course for instance, has been challenging for me in its uniqueness. Lectures that take form in collaborative discussion, assignments that involve following and reading blogs written by innovative instructors, and the idea of no grades (no grades in fourth year of university?!) have challenged my, frustrated me, but ultimately altered the way in which I view teaching, and more importantly learning. While I still experience an element of politics within grading, I hope that one day we will be able to transcend this as well.

 In keeping with one of the most rational conflict management techniques, I think it is imperative to examine different lenses, and perspectives to a situation in order to reach a consensus. I believe that the Story Model Framework holds some of the secrets to understanding differences in ideals, values and perspectives. While there are some universal frameworks held by many people, ones which bind us and are mostly innately felt, rather than discussed, there are other, more individual/ micro scale factors. The "cultural", and "personal" are unique frameworks that people hold based on their personal experiences. I have had direct experience understanding how differences in opinion are attributed to personal experiences through the education course: Introduction to Teaching, Learning and Schooling. One of the assignments was a personal narrative presentation in which we discussed how our personal experiences have shaped how we approach education.  I was humbled and privileged to hear about some of the experiences of my peers, ones which unless mandated by the course assignment, I would not have had the opportunity to hear about.  This was a shocking way of learning about the "cultural", and "personal" frameworks, and how experiences pertain to these are rooted in the past and influence each educator's future story.

Ultimately, I think learning is most effective when it is meaningful, and is driven by student interest.  As these brilliant girls phrase it, often times, the greatest lessons are the ones you do not remember learning.

These students do such an exceptional job addressing issues that they see in the world, using a medium that is important and meaningful to them - poetry - and shed light on subjects that are not openly discussed with young people.

I think that it is infinitely important to create confidence in our students, to let them know that they must think critically, must take information and recreate it in new ways, generate new interests and most importantly ask questions. While the very structure of our world is ever changing, one important characteristic for 21st century citizenship is creativity and ability to restructure information in new ways. And I believe this begins with encouraging students to follow their personal interests from a very young age.

Thanks for reading,






Ana