Stew

So it's back to school and my brain is on kids, learning, mentoring, and facilitation.  At my school, we do this awesome thing the weeks before and after school is in session called "staff week" where as a staff we prepare for the first few weeks of school, try to organize our organization, and learn about education together.  Each year it gets better and stronger and this year was no exception.  Needless to say, my head is deep in philosophy of what we try to do.  I guess now would be a good time to clarify that I work at a democratic free school which is a growing movement in alternative education.  The philosophy is complex and includes components such as self-direction, non-coersion, democratic school governance, community building, and above all, the freedom to learn in the best way for each individual.  It is a beautiful goal and like most philosophies that are beautiful and include a goal, it is not perfect and is in constant flux and evolution.  There are many blogs and websites that explore these ideals in detail with much room for debate and inquiry which I will include at the end of this post, for, I do not want this to be a platform, just a muse.

Anywho, sometime this summer I jokingly (mostly seriously) started calling Progressive Education passive-aggressive education (mostly where administrations are concerned) because "allowing kids/ teachers to make choices and educational decisions" can sometimes feel like no one will make a decision and/ or they want you to feel like you've made a decision but really want you to do something a specific way.  Passive Aggression.  No one likes it.  Almost everyone does it.  It really doesn't work and it can make simple things very confusing.  I've seen it it organizations and in students.  It comes up a lot in families. But no matter where it rears its ugly (but trying to by nice) head, it causes resentment, doubt, and generally leaves real work unfinished.

 This is where we arrive at a realization I recently had.  It happened yesterday as I played my first recreational Roller Derby scrimmage. An awesome thing about playing roller derby is that if you are not in the right spot, are making a bad decision, or are missing a good opportunity, a girl on your team will physically move you to where you should be.  We push each other through the pack, to block, to get the jammer to the top, or to knock someone over.  It works because the first thing they teach you in derby is to have a strong foundation in case someone pushes or hits whether you're expectiung it or not.  And you know, if you are steady and strong, that the girl who moves you has your best interest in mind.  On my ride home, I was replaying how many times this happened to me during the scrimmage and was feeling so grateful because I learned something every time it happened.  Being relatively new to the sport, I have a lot of rules and strategy to learn and, for me, the best way to learn is to live it.  You can tell me a million times, but I am a person who learns more through action and experience and from clear direction.  As a teacher as well as a parent, I think about this sort of thing often and while I observe the way my kids learn, I wonder if and when to put them in the"right spot". Particularly in the environment in which I teach, I spend a great deal of time hoping that I am offering the right information, projects, and exposure to ideas the students have expressed interest in without being vague or pushy (as all parents and teacher do, right?).  Regardless, what I really love about this derby idea of education is how proactive it is.  It is exciting to me as a strategy that you can be overt and aggressive in a positive way.  In the way that you keep a kid from being "knocked down" or missing the play entirely.  It relies, also, upon building a solid foundation, so that if you go to "move" them they don't end up on their face.
As a theory, and especially as a practice, this thought needs much more stewing time.  Food for thought nonetheless.

Until next time-be patient, grateful, and loving.





 Free School Resources:
AERO-www.educationrevolution.org
IDEA-www.democraticeducation.com
Bruce Zeines Blog-http://bzeines.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/back-to-school-labor-day-special/
If you really want to hit the source-A.S Neill's "Summerhill"
Anything by Chris Mercogliano

Things that are awesome:
Colored and patterned duct tape.
Pegging/ Hemming old pants and feeling like you have new pants
Kindle or e-readers (Sigh-it's true-I didn't want to believe it.  But now buying more books  than I read take sup a lot less space.)
Craftster.org
Ready Made Magazine

Heros:
My husband recently became my soup hero