With the end of Term 2 in my education jurisdiction, we all of a sudden come crashing to a halt. Well, more grinding at a glacial pace towards the finish line – which is actually an icy precipice. So, as we become violently amputated from an ancient glacier oblivious to its own demise and that of the planet, we leap into the frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean (otherwise known as the winter holidays). A
After the first giddy rush of shock and awe, it starts to dawn on me that sleeping in till 7am and walking the dog in 1 degrees is not so much an assault on my senses as it is just a normal healthy thing to do. The stuff that human people do quite regularly when they are not trying to ride the wave of unprecedented disruption from the bow crashing glacier.
So in the stark reality of COVID-19 filtered day light there are a few ideas to unpack.
- Artifacts
- Attunement
- Affordances
- Agency
How do we shape the landscape of our learning ecology such that learners perceive the potential to act out their learning?
One such way we have done this recently is through the use of a manifesto! One the students put together with some help from an expert.
The important part of this is that it recognises that student ‘voice and choice’ is not just a tick the box option. It is a really tough methodology for gaining authentic expression from children. It means designing structures with the end user in mind – our students.
It make sense then, that children would be involved in the design of those structures.