Looking back; looking forward
Newsletter 21: May 25, 2025
1.
I taught my first students – described in the post The Sticky Tape Poem – more than half a century ago. The books, articles, stories and posts I’ve collected together on this Substack all come from those 55 years.
I’ve been looking back.
Every now and then I look forward. And when I do, I wonder about the relevance of my writing about schools and classrooms and students:
What possible lessons are there in the stories of Anna, Chris, Paul and Dan, told in my book School Portrait, describing a time when there were no smart phones, no computers in the classroom; just stories and plays and books, and hours spent constructing cubbies, creating large plays and building a medieval village out of cardboard bricks?
Do the lived and imagined worlds described in my novel The Worlds of Harriet Henderson – a novel about stories and paintings and classroom struggles, with barely a smart phone in sight – say anything about the worlds of today’s teenagers, worlds shadowed by the presence of social media addiction, online bullying and a looming climate catastrophe?
Do my descriptions of the imaginative and daily struggles of troubled children like Ben and Sarah, teenagers I knew 20 years ago, have any resonance in today’s world, preoccupied and unsettled as it is by the exponential growth of generative AI?
2.
Last week I listened to a wonderful podcast, one which looked back (to what worked and didn’t work in the past) and forward (to what schools might become in a world profoundly unsettled by new challenges).
Ezra Klein of The New York Times was interviewing Rebecca Winthrop, co-author of a new book: The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better.
If you’ve got the time, listen to the podcast or read the interview.
Or better still, watch the superbly edited video (click on the image below) of the conversation between Ezra, the informed and articulate journalist and concerned parent, and Rebecca, the academic, teacher and writer.
They share thoughts on the big questions:
What is it, at this time in the world’s history, that we want our children to be experiencing and learning in schools?
Are there actual classrooms that are working towards these things?
What unique dangers and challenges for classrooms and students does generative AI throw up? Should it be banned in schools? Or are there ways in which it can be used well?
How might we build students’ muscle to do hard things? What stories about actual schools, actual classrooms, actual students, might be inspiring exemplars?
Is teaching about generative AI more important than letting students use it?
Does the existence of generative AI necessarily widen the gaps between the haves and have-nots?
3.
I’ve ordered a copy of The Disengaged Teen.
And now I’ve had a thought.
Many years ago I belonged (along with a number of subscribers to The Mythopoetic Classroom) to the wonderful Ning for English teachers, called The English Companion Ning. It was hosted by Jim Burke and had contributors – thousands of them.
Two of us organised a Ning book discussion (on Charles Tayor’s The Ethics of Authenticity), taking it turns to write a response to the chapters and opening our responses up for a general discussion. It was great fun; teachers from all around the world took part.
It occurred to me last week that I’d like to do something like that with The Disengaged Teen.
Are there any amongst you, my subscribers, who would be interested in joining me to initiate the discussion of this book? We would take it one or two chapters at a time at a pace to be agreed upon. I’d need at least one of you to take it in turns with me to write a response to a chapter or chapters, and we’d then open it up for discussion.
It would be fun. And, if I’m right about the book itself, discussing it together would help us make important links between what we’ve come to know as teachers and what we’ll need to know about the future our students will soon be experiencing.
And some exciting news! I’ve been in touch with Rebecca Winthrop and she’s interested in weighing in on the discussion.
Interested in joining us?
If you have any questions or comments, please use the comments button below.
The following survey has 3 multiple choice questions. It will take a minute, no longer. If you’re thinking you might be interested in being a part of this book discussion (as a discussion leader, responder or just reading what others contribute), please click the survey link. This will help me know whether this idea is worth pursuing.