Bird Droppings January 3, 2010
Reaching out

` “We may not live holy lives but we live in a world full of holy moments” Kent Nerburn, Simple Truths

Today is the last official day of winter vacation and or Christmas holidays with tomorrow a furlough day designated by our governor and then Tuesday back to school for this semester. Another fifteen weeks to go or so and summer break again time does fly. I am sitting here sorting piles on my table of my graduate work trying to finish a paper today. There are stacks of books I need to read and emails to answer nd a semester to plan. Maybe I can do it tomorrow. I have been a fan of Kent Nerburn’s since my first suggested read nearly eight years ago by a student’s mother. Today is no exception as I read Kent’s most recent blog on his website. I highly recommend taking a look, kentnerburn.com.
Kent was addressing a letter he received from a student, a fifth grader who was requesting photos of pictures of Chief Joseph. Kent had written an extensive book on the flight of the Nez Perce focusing on Chief Joseph a few years back. As he illiterates when he was searching in his early twenties he had written to Norman Mailer asking could he come work for him and received a response.

“His note was brief. But I still remember his last line. ‘Write more than you have been writing.’ I’m sure it was just a way to finish the response. But to me, so desperate for meaning and direction, it became something of a creative beacon: if Norman Mailer said I should be writing more than I had been writing, then I should be writing more than I had been writing.” Kent Nerburn

As I read this paragraph and Nerburn’s next thoughts it dawned on me how often we as teachers and parents are asked for help and how often we tend to set that request aside maybe not enough time they can do it on there own, why me, all of the so many reasons to not help.

“It is a humbling experience to have a young person reach out to you for advice or assistance, whatever your role or status in life. It means they are open to your wisdom and your counsel. In that brief encounter, you can shape a life. We all get these opportunities, though not frequently. When they do come, they often do so in a clumsy or inarticulate fashion, because the young person who is reaching out has invested so much in the reaching that he or she does not do it with grace. Fumbling words, inappropriate requests, too constant a presence, a transparent attempt to seem worldly or knowledgeable — these are only a few of the ways this hopeful reaching for help and insight can express itself. e need to see past these clumsy efforts when a young person reaches out to us for assistance. We need to stop what we’re doing, open our hearts and ears, and hear what a hungry heart is asking of us.” Kent Nerburn

Nerburn ended his blog with he hopes he can do something for his young writer that will be of value to him. I have been pondering most of the weekend on a direction for a paper for graduate school actually two papers this one way past due and another due as soon as I focus on it.
I keep seeing in my mind’s eye the idea of a funnel how we take children and pour them through a funnel constantly squeezing them faster and faster till they shoot out somewhere in twelve or so years. There is little time to answer questions if there is any time to even propose a question. We have to adhere to our curriculum maps and schedules and get data into those brains for graduation tests and end of course tests and test and more tests. Jamming information and content till there is no room. I once used the illustration of putting five gallons in a liter bottle. Only way is for you to condense it, filter it and you take away what to you as the teacher deem not of importance.
I was grazing through Borders education section and found a book written by a former US Secretary of education no names at this point. He had in his attempt to declare what constitutes a good education made a list of what statements and or quotes should be recognizable by each grade and age. Ten of one list were from the Bible and I thought is now there is an agenda perhaps a bit over stated. In further reading while offering in science that evolution was considered by most scientists as valid it was still a theory and offered choice of schools as a solution since most will teach evolution. However he did offer how intelligent design was a cover up for creationist theories.
But as I think this is funneling providing a list from a high or I should say former high up official of what should be learned by children which actually included Bible verses so non religious children and or other religions would in his scheme of things literally be behind by not knowing. Yet we do this constantly using a list of standards, norms for determining the rightness and wrongness of learning for specific ages and grades. I keep coming back to my idea of Swiss Family Robinson as a curriculum which I proposed once in a paper. Oh yes that book was on list of should read books in elementary school an early nineteenth century book as were many on his list “the classics”.
Harry Potter was not on the list as were few more recent books. This fellow is not alone I have watched counties and schools funnel thought and thinking channeling in directions of what the community and administration think is correct to their students. How many questions get left by the way side? How many teachers even have time anymore to listen to see if a question was even asked? What happens when the funnel gets so constricted that nothing gets through? As a special education teacher I see this constantly and those kids drop out of school and or become problems. Well soon new students and a new week ahead. I hope that I will have a question or two today and that I take the time to answer them from anyone that happens by. Please keep all in harms way on your mind and in your hearts.
namaste
bird