From the Beginning and Moving On!

From: Keith L. Pentz
Email: KLPentz@aol.com
Date: June 03, 2008

Comments

Wow! In reading all of your comments, I am struck by all the terms that continued to be added throughout the conversation--by product, learning, weaving, testing, helpful, mindful, etc. To me, it only supports the notion of process. Each of us has a vocabulary and that vocabulary is unique and special to us. We hear and read words and each of those words has a nuanced meaning specifically for us. To put it in another frame, how we interpret what we are reading or hearing is influenced significantly by our background, the environment where we live and work, and by what connections we have made to an idea in the past.

All of that helps us to move on to another aspect for this particular discussion. If we agree that process is fundamental or a key for learning, then how do we go about helping that process become even more meaningful for the children with whom we work and even for ourselves? Part of this discussion is to focus on that body-brain connection for real learning. Some of you have heard me speak before and may recall the SEAL sequence for learning that I adapted from Robert Sylwester's work. STIMULUI drive EMOTIONS which drive ATTENTION which ultimately drives LEARNING. In other words, learning is a process that keeps repeating and developing as new stimuli activate our neural structures.

My questions coming from your comments and linked to the SEAL idea include:

What do you do or do you see children do to physically enter into a process mode? (What I'm trying to get at with this question is how do we establish a "learning enviroment" for ourselves--and obviously how do children prepare themselves, too)

If emotions drive attention, then why do we find it so difficult to provide real terms related to our personal emotions or to help label emotions for children? (i.e., joyful, ecstatic, pleased, happy, content, calm, etc.--please note I kept it to the positive ones!)

Is what we do as teachers, directors, parents, or friends a process too? Should our jobs/work be seen as process? Would we be more comfortable or "successful" if we viewed what we did as a process as opposed to a "product" or something we just do?

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I'm choosing to have us focus on these ideas initially because they directly relate to mindfulness and mindful learning. If we are "on the same page" with some fundamentals, then other comments and ideas from me will make more sense.

Thanks to all of you for participating. I look forward to reading more from you and continuing this discussion.

Take care and be mindful!

Keith