i’ve learnt that sometimes it’s best to leave writing a blog post until a while after the event. this is such a post. there is still much information transferring and it’s taking me a while to catch up.
lots to add, so i’ll lean on some informal mindfulness to help me focus on where to begin.
i’m excited by the proposition of using google drive as a place to collaborate via shared documents. i’ve been playing this evening and added a simple hello world document and invited the other collaborators to add their hello world message.
our site is a partner venue in the maker ed #makercorps project for summer 2016. today i’ve joined up online and begun to explore all the resources available.
yesterday i took part in our first brain storming session at the building and i’m going to use what, so what, what now as a reflective tool:
what?
we initially stood in a facilitated group talking in flow and adding key points as written postit notes onto a wall in the space.
so what?
i felt awkward at first as i posted before the facilitator had given us our operating boundaries, although i posted in order to discover what those boundaries were.
while the facilitator was present i felt happy and being part of a constructive positive process that had purpose and direction.
the discussion went on for 3 hours. i worked hard to stay with it. the effort required left me feeling unhappy. in reflecting about the experience with my partner i was able to vocalise something that i’d never been able to say before. the method of working in the brainstorming after the initial hour does not suit my kinesthetic learning style.
now what?
i need to discuss further my findings about myself with those in the project. i will take the opportunity here in this post to collate my thoughts about what i realised last night.
to aid my brain storming ability, i would like to try a brain storming session that lasts one hour. after this hour i would like the opportunity to take what i learnt in the brain storming session and wave my arms around while collecting materials and trying out ideas based on what i learnt. in other words to immediately attempt to prototype something.
last night in our living room i waved my arms around and spoke at my partner while i worked out why my head felt like it had been solidified by something that solidifies things.
i passionately spoke to her about how i’ve never really been able to express what my needs have been in terms of what i need to help me move towards my potential. i asked her if she thought i might be the only person like this. “i doubt it” came her reply.
i started to explore my forest school experiences for anything that i could connect to. for sometime i’ve felt that kinesthetic learners are those who have an immediacy of connection with a forest school session and ultimately the process.
there are examples of this i can recall at the school i volunteer at. the forest school ethos / process is made available to children who have the potential to improve their current levels. i asked the question last night “of those children, how many have kinesthetic as their main learning style?” through more focussed observation this might be understood.
i started to make further connections. the school process is about sitting and listening and responding in written form(for the most part). we hear of children who are extremely good at this and are at their target level and sometimes above. we also hear of children that are below target and find it difficult to do the work needed to make the level. would those below target respond better to a different learning approach ?
something i must add here.
to help me feel like my head was suidgy/maleable again and me … me, i took a path of things to make me feel better. i played, i listened to some music. i did things that helped me affirm i was me and happy again.
there was a moment where i asked the question “of those kinesthetic learners at school who are short of their potential, how many of them do things to clear their heads that annoy others (their intention being merely to clear their head and to feel themselves again)?”
yesterday i became aware i am going to work be better, be more productive, happier, more energised by a modified brain storming process. i look forward to sharing this with the group when we next meet up.
monday was my brother’s birthday. i sent him a card made by the scribble/squiggle bots i took with me on thursday last week to help describe my passion/interest in making. the image is a detail of that card.
in the united states the steam process is described as project based holistic learning. it’s within a ball park of the forest school ethos. i think my next steps are to start to explore what projects i want to attempt and let myself discover where this takes me.
