The other day, when I actually dreamed in links, it became clear to me that I had arrived. I'm at the door, taking a glimpse at what's beyond. The whole thing about this new read/write web is a bit daunting, but I can't remember any time in my life I've been so thrilled about learning. The resources, the networks, what's possible now--everything is different. It's all about carving paths, then seeing that the paths connect in a three-dimensional network, well beyond current space and time.
There's no going back. I was out running on our country road yesterday, thinking I'll never be in the "now" again, and feeling a bit mournful about this. Being in the now, with kids, or in nature, is really important to me. Then, almost simultaneously, I realized that my "now" is still here, but is qualitatively different.
It's like those stages Piaget talks about. It's not a linear run from one thing to the next, with the next stage being more advanced and "more so"; rather, the new stage is all completely different. "New eyes," as they say. From children's literature, it's like crossing the Tesseract in A Wrinkle in Time, or stepping through the window into another world in The Golden Compass. So my "now" is still here, but my "here" has broadened.
About a quarter mile further in this run down the country road, I heard scarlet tanager. The morning was foggy and thick with spring. The rain has greened everything up, and birds were declaring territory. I wanted my fourth and fifth graders to be there, to do an observation-exercise. It was a precious moment in our Michigan spring. Then, out of my new neurology, Aha! Here's an idea: Eco-pairs. Put a kid in Michigan onto an observational nature study, and connect her up to someone in...Africa? Hawaii? The pair of students could be out in their wireless lands conversing in real time about what's around them, thereby connecting two nature systems through two pairs of human eyes, with questions and answers. Think what this would do for their observational capacities. I'm no longer mournful. This new world, yes, I choose it.
Jane Goodall gets what it's all about. "The Power of Youth is Global" is written across the top of the screen at her Roots and Shoots website. Now kids from all over the world can work together as stewards of the earth...think of the power of this.
I'm starting to get it. The door is open. I want to use this blog as a sharing space, for kids and teachers and parents, all who have that pioneering sense of adventure and awe. This is a new version of the world, one that turns upsidedown and inside out all that we previously thought about education.
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2 comments:
Think of blending Jane Goodall's ideas with that idea you want to try of working to teach elders computer skills. Can you have kids work with elders to provide benefits for nature? That would be a triple-win.
Yikes--whoever said this, I need to talk with you. Wow--what a direction!
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