The guided activity involved deep breathing, visualizing, and interacting with art in a unconventional way. Maybe I am a little yoga-geek, so I admit I thoroughly enjoyed this activity as I did last year when we did a similar thing. I actually made a few connections with the activity and my practicum; my students were learning to deep breath as laid out in the program Mind Up! and I was teaching them to visualize using Adrienne Gear strategies. So really it felt as though I was still in school. And yes I would totally do that activity with my students!! I was a very imaginative child and I really believe that modern technology hinders children's imaginations (you may disagree) to the point where we must teach them how to use them in school.
It may be just me (and I have no research to back me up) but I do not remember learning how to visualize in the 90's. I remember my teacher telling me to pay attention and quit day dreaming…I didn't need any help making pictures of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory in my head….I could see it all very clearly. I could taste the edible tea cups and smell the liquid chocolate vividly. So it is very interesting to me that we need to teach this concept….I see the importance for sure….but I think it's a symptom of our modern culture. I also understand many of the new things in school and all the good advances since I was a kid….but every now and then I think back to my own little grade 3 classroom and reflect on the past….and I think they didn't have it all wrong. ;)
Also I loved Will Gills exhibit! Here he is….
Interesting to think about the relationship between technology and imagination. I think we have no choice but to embrace technology but we can encourage children to use it in creative ways, rather than as passive escapism. I had no trouble visualizing, either, but apparently that is a characteristic of good readers. The Adrienne Gear material is based on the assumption that if you teach other kids, to whom this does not come naturally, to do what good readers do, then they will become good readers. I am not sure there is any research that "proves" that this approach is effective but lots of teachers seem convinced. I have heard great things about the Mind Up! program so I'm glad you had a chance to see it. The pace of life has gotten hectic - I also found it surprising that Carolyn used meditation techniques so effectively to get us to really "see" the art. So much to comment on in this post, but one last comment - yes, there is new learning applied to education all the time but of course, there are also some traditional practices that we need to keep. I think the trick is to have a nice blend of traditional for security and new for excitement but not too much new, to avoid becoming frazzled! I hope you come and take my master's Leading for Change course someday - we talk a lot more abou that!
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