A Reflection ~ Setting the Stones to Force Kids to Be Free

My memory of things that never happened is getting much better, thank you. Some memory loop me that Muhammad Ali once said "Force people to be free." Even if he didn't, he could have . . . and it rings as true today as when he (might have) said it.

If you have been following my posts, you will know that our work in this first course of the Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy, Information Literacy and Ourselves as Learners, while pushing me to glimpse into the educational future, has caused me to look into my educational past - to re-identify the foundation of what education and learning really are.

Perhaps Ali's statement is the point.

With instantaneous communication (0n so many levels) afforded by the technologies that are now part of our lives, our pondering needs to focus how we can, at least, better do what we say we should have been doing (Old Things in New Ways) and truly explore how we can do New Things in New Ways.

As my educational foundation was constructed, one of the cornerstones laid was that of student empowerment . . . empowerment to believe in their themselves, to think, to ask for and accept responsibility, to realize that their learning comes not from "us", but from them. It is not what you are given, but what you make.

When I was a young(er) man, this empowerment was felt by some as a threat to the (elite) establishment . . . and perhaps it still is in many ways.

While the explosion of access to information and communication has been a bit daunting to me, it has been my belief in efficacy of student empowerment that has helped me attempt to understand and embrace it.

It (is having) and will have an impact in my Science class. And that is important.

However, my dream is for our new abilities to have an impact on the Middle School Student body by affording them true student voice. For a variety of reasons,

• many of our Middle School students seen content to be told what to do, to have things done for them, and are not eager to initiate or risk.
  
• the Student Council structure (especially the accountable representative part) in our Middle School has been rendered anachronistic.
  
• our Middle School community does not have true core from which its spirit comes.

Force young people to be free.

Through the provocation of this course, we will be attempting to open up and access student voice and engagement through a medium that is part of their lives. To help force kids to be free, a Facebook Page/Group is being established that will serve as a center-point for information giving and gathering, student dialogue, sharing and celebration, and whatever else they might choose.

Our role? That of advisers and an (in the) background guides. As stone setters. Giving the youngsters the assistance and guidance and support to impact their own (school) lives and community .

Does it matter if this is an Old Thing in a Better Way, or a New Thing in a New Way?

It's about them. Not us.

Interesting how moving forward has sprung from reflecting back.

Now it's time to go out and gather some stones.

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