I love this! It took me years to circle back and return to the place I started from in teaching English - the love of the word, penned quickly, often by kids who were fed up with school and needed to find a way to puncture the routines that encircled them. I learned from their first words and my own feeling but un-informed responses that I knew very little about the vast resource from which they drew their words. This prompted a journey into study of language and how it enables us to make meanings of so many kinds. But it's those first encounters with the possibilities of poetry - stand up, first thoughts, first words - that I return to in my later years. Desire must shape the seeing and the staying with that over the vicissitudes of a lifetime in education. Thanks Steve for this wonderful reflection.
Deconstruction can be torturous, that's why I think support through therapy or a classroom is so important. But I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity to find who I truly am. Thank you for your work, Steven. Ps. 🙃I'm trying to catch up on my list.
Sorry, my friend, but I don't buy this. You've told us, throughout this lovely piece, that the wound is about the curtailment of joy, creativity, curiosity, and soul-light. And then, the redemption of hope from an education setting that strives to create space for these very things. You are your student-granddaughter and you are the teacher, school leader, and educational dreamer. You are, and have been, what so many educators strive to be. Thank you!
"The eye and the wound are one and the same"...Fascinating quote. That classroom reminded me of a living organism I also once knew. It must take time to shape and cultivate them.. Trust your granddaughter will find the right fit💛.
It was just going back to school 8 years ago and learning what it actually meant to learn as a "child". I had to unlearn and ultimately face my own traumas. It radically changed how I saw the world.
I know the feeling! Right at this moment I'm copying the fourth chapter of my thesis, so that I can post it in the section called 'Mating with the World'. It's the story of me in a time when I was learning to be a therapist and was working with a supervisor. To quote you: 'I had to unlearn and ultimately face my own traumas'. I'm still trying to do just that!
I love this! It took me years to circle back and return to the place I started from in teaching English - the love of the word, penned quickly, often by kids who were fed up with school and needed to find a way to puncture the routines that encircled them. I learned from their first words and my own feeling but un-informed responses that I knew very little about the vast resource from which they drew their words. This prompted a journey into study of language and how it enables us to make meanings of so many kinds. But it's those first encounters with the possibilities of poetry - stand up, first thoughts, first words - that I return to in my later years. Desire must shape the seeing and the staying with that over the vicissitudes of a lifetime in education. Thanks Steve for this wonderful reflection.
Yes not just the wound. Desire as well. Your post has me with my morning coffee thinking about my own early encounters with story. Thanks Mary.
Deconstruction can be torturous, that's why I think support through therapy or a classroom is so important. But I'm grateful that I was given the opportunity to find who I truly am. Thank you for your work, Steven. Ps. 🙃I'm trying to catch up on my list.
"What is the wound that determines what I see?
Who knows!"
Sorry, my friend, but I don't buy this. You've told us, throughout this lovely piece, that the wound is about the curtailment of joy, creativity, curiosity, and soul-light. And then, the redemption of hope from an education setting that strives to create space for these very things. You are your student-granddaughter and you are the teacher, school leader, and educational dreamer. You are, and have been, what so many educators strive to be. Thank you!
Oh Karen. Thankyou. What a lovely response.
"The eye and the wound are one and the same"...Fascinating quote. That classroom reminded me of a living organism I also once knew. It must take time to shape and cultivate them.. Trust your granddaughter will find the right fit💛.
I hope so; she's a precious wee thing. I'd love to hear more about the living organism you once knew. And thank you for the response Licinda.
It was just going back to school 8 years ago and learning what it actually meant to learn as a "child". I had to unlearn and ultimately face my own traumas. It radically changed how I saw the world.
I know the feeling! Right at this moment I'm copying the fourth chapter of my thesis, so that I can post it in the section called 'Mating with the World'. It's the story of me in a time when I was learning to be a therapist and was working with a supervisor. To quote you: 'I had to unlearn and ultimately face my own traumas'. I'm still trying to do just that!