wondering how similar our 90 min block friday was to innovation within the public school system - or society even over a course of 10 years.
so it started out looking like this..
(soccer dribbling, t-shirt creating, taping each other down to learn flashcards)
yes - most people would have said - crazy - not working - and left..
then this..
(taking the table w/kid on it and soccer dribbler outside so they could be together - so what was that about? was it the challenge of getting the kid on the table outside.. which ended up modeling rather good teamwork.. or that they did want to be together.. or just crazy energy?)
most of the rest would be gone by now..
and they would have missed this..
(two students who stayed in talking about if it was appropriate or not)
and this
(another that stayed in telling us about the russian she had been teaching herself on the side - blew us away)
and this
(15 min later, everyone back inside and settled into some serious work)
it's a friday afternoon after a stressful week of loads of homework gearing up to finals (by the way - we're thinking this was the craziest day we've seen in the lab so far)
who are we to say they didn't need that break, or that the craziness wouldn't lead to something else..
or perhaps it was a way to see the student led convo about what's appropriate,
or for a student to share her russian? her secret self-taught course....
a few of us talked after..
can you get to remarkable by following rules? by being compliant?if i - as the oldest one in the room - would have asked them to settle or stop or ? - what would that do to this culture.. ? no one was dying.. they know that's the overriding rule.. no one was in danger.. [our rules to the left]
how different is a set curriculum at a set time (not made by the ones learning) from a set of rules - (not made by the ones breaking them...)
do we have those bursts because we're in the current system.. so freedom needs a buffer year... no observing till a kid believes in it and is not so stressed about all the hoops - that they don't freak out - as one said - much like teens who get to the drinking age... and binge.
the point..
we're thinking standard assumptions and perceptions of what's going on stop innovations in their tracks, preventing many remarkable things to happen, squelching many hungry souls mid/quarter stream.
how often have we missed things because we decided even just 5 min (or 1 year) too soon that something wasn't working.
and - who's standard of measure do we use?
if we're using a standard of measure that is contrary to what we are after..
not only is it ridiculous..
it will indeed take 10ish more years for those sticking it out to see results.. no?
trust is huge.
in ourselves
in the ability to self-construct
in others
and yet.. the reward is what we are all seeking in the first place.
a space to be ourselves.. to be valued by and to help others...
to make a difference..
___________________________________________
