Without an idea
Collage by TR Koubois. Date unknown, but within the last 75 years.
A hard coin
As a young teacher I clearly remember spending many hours at my desk planning. Long term plans, medium term plans and then the ubiquitous three part lesson plans; enough for a whole term. All blocked out in narrow columns and typed in a very tiny font size. At Greentech Commons this time is spent preparing in a different way. I would not expect any of our teachers to plan journeys for our children to find what has already been found, or to end up knowing what is already known. What would be the point of this?
Much of what needs to be found is easily found. The same goes for what needs to be known. So if it can be easily found and easily known, then it can probably be quickly found and quickly known. Do this work at another time. Not when we are together. That’s a waste of all the energy.
And I would not expect our teachers to present to a class a beautiful sculpture, patiently and purposefully rendered by their hand only to lead the children through the long spiky grass of learning to arrive at a beautiful facsimile. What would be the point? They have their own hands.
And as for the game of the ages where we spend so much precious time asking our powerful charges to simply guess what we are thinking. Some will happily oblige, of course. Others will know but avoid sharing for this reason or that. Some won’t know. Many more won’t care.
I would always advocate for going in with no plan; without an idea beyond that of setting off together out into the unknown. That is where we will find the things really worth finding: about ourselves, each other and the world around us.
So we have ourselves a hard coin.
One side and it’s in with an idea,
the other is going in without one.
You’ll be one side or the other or you might prefer to flip.
Where there is life there is learning
It’s obvious that we need to know certain stuff to get other stuff done. But herein lies the deliberate and pernicious ‘misunderstanding’ - that at Greentech Commons we are somehow anti-knowledge. We are not and we never have been. But we do have a different view of it, especially the what and the how and the why of it all.
After the old adage about looking after the pennies, if we make schools more like life, then learning will flow. We won’t be able to stop it. And it will be deep and genuinely life-long learning. So we are not at all worried about our kids not ‘learning enough stuff’ as they will gather what they need as they go. We don’t need tests to secure new knowledge as that which is important and is used tends to stick well enough. We don’t rely on clever planning to make connections because these happen naturally in purposeful and authentic situations. If it is needed in one moment to move onto the next then it is sought out, found and held close. It really is that simple and really should be utterly uncontroversial.
While the information and facts that clog curriculum documents represent some of our lived experience, it is partial, perspectival and very far from secure. The crisis we face is triggered by the fact that we have forgotten this (or chose to ignore it) and find ourselves committed to an ideology that pushes its primacy when it has no such claim.
If you prepare at all, prepare to know the child
and be ready to enjoy the journey
Communal knowledge
And what we learn on our adventures we share freely across the community. We love this bit.
It’s the commons in our name: our shared heritage and legacy; our cultural and natural wealth restored to its rightful place at the centre of what we do and it is shared through the stories we tell ourselves and each other.
And what’s more, sharing what we have learned means that those that follow us can start their adventures a little further on. They don’t need to waste their time simply getting to where we have got.
What would be the point of that?
Interregnum
It has been five weeks now. A time filled with mounting anxiety, if I am honest, as we all now await the start of a new year. The responsibility is huge, but we must wear it as lightly as we intend to travel. I tell others as much, but must remind myself. And be happy that while we have some adventures lined up, there is plenty of space in between to go off elsewhere. There is trepidation, but much anticipation of all that will come our way. In these last remaining days, let’s prepare only to know the child, and be ready to share the driving.