tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24406196.post6691421010850737821..comments2024-03-22T03:31:03.398-04:00Comments on serif of nottingblog: The Arf Fathergary barwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05063921311334434357noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24406196.post-81902310672168951402007-08-15T12:48:00.000-04:002007-08-15T12:48:00.000-04:00There does seem to be continuous talk about prepar...There does seem to be continuous talk about preparing students for the changing workplace, about teaching them to be creative and flexible thinkers, teaching them to develop 'a curious habit of mind,'however, I don't think -- for the most part -- that this is integrated into schools and school curricula. Heck, I've heard teachers chastise kids for climbing a tree on school property as if it were a completely ridiculous, thoughtless, and 'What were you thinking?" activity. (Given that I'm teaching quite young kids, I would ask them to come down from the trees, but I'd provide them with paper with lines on it so that they could write with a careless disregard for these very lines, thus providing an institutionally endorsed -- and liability-free -- mode of freedom, impulsivity, and self-expression. But few teachers are as enlighted as I am...)<BR/><BR/>I have experimented with allocating certain marks or a place on a rubric for a "surprise me" component on an assignment. I do want the students to be able to follow their inspiration or curiosity somewhere where the original assignment hadn't predicted. But of course, in most situations, it's more about setting up the creative space /power relations of the class/school.gary barwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05063921311334434357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24406196.post-46106043921673400052007-08-13T18:18:00.000-04:002007-08-13T18:18:00.000-04:00thanks for drawing attention to this, gary. I read...thanks for drawing attention to this, gary. I read gabriel's blog regularly, and more than once have I copied a particular nugget of wisdom from it and stuck it above my desk at work, to help keep me centred, sane (or is that insane?) and generous.<BR/><BR/>grounding the practice of writing in an ethical commitment to developing a curious habit of mind- can we get that into a curriculum document somewhere? i mean, that *is* the goal towards which I want to orient my work.happenin fishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10764149381553113468noreply@blogger.com